A man from Rabat is expected to be arraigned in court as he is held suspect by the Police after Customs seized 98,600 smuggled cigarettes and over two kilos of tabacco on which €21,050 were evaded in duty and other taxes.

Searches were done by Customs and Police in two garages, vehicle, liqueur shop and residence.

For the past weeks, the Customs Department's Intelligence Services has intensely worked on information gathered through different sources concerning cigarettes smuggling and managed to identify a suspicious person.

On Thursday late afternoon, while performing surveillance duties, Customs Enforcement Officials have noticed the suspect person leaving his shop in Rabat by car, driving to Dingli, and entering a garages complex.

The Customs Officials followed him and entered the garage complex on foot. One of the garages was open and they found the suspect handling several cartons of smuggled cigarettes. Police from the Crimes Economic Unit joined the search.

From this garage 32,200 contraband cigarettes and 40 packets of roll-your-own tobacco, bearing €7,500 in endangered taxes were found.

In another garage, Police and Customs officers found 50,000 contraband cigarettes were found, on which €11,565 in taxes were due.

After the suspect's vehicle was searched and another 400 cigarettes were confiscated, with an additional €550 in endangered taxes. The vehicle was also seized by Customs.

In the liqueur shop in Rabat another 2,600 cigarettes and 11 packets of roll-your-own tobacco hidden behind the counter. The cigarettes were found hidden at the top part of a soft drink fridge.

Leaving stone unturned, Police and Customs continued with their operation at the suspect's residence in Tal-Virtu (Rabat) from where 3,400 cigarettes were elevated with an estimate tax evasion of €765.

All goods were documented, sealed and photographed while suspect was arraigned by the Police for further investigation.