From: Public Broadcasting of Latvia
Byline: eng.lsm.lv, Latvian Public Broadcasting English-language service
Last year, Latvian police seized almost 50 million illegal cigarettes, which is nearly twice as many as in 2013 and a new annual record, Toms Sadovskis, a spokesman for the Latvian State Police, told the BNS newswire.
During 2014, police conducted 3,621 inspections, drew up 3,269 protocols for various violations and launched 704 criminal probes as part of the clampdown on illegal trade in excise goods.
Sadovskis indicated that “catching the big fish” in this illegal business was one of the priorities last year and that this approach was also reflected in statistics, as the number of criminal probes increased, while the number of administrative cases dropped in 2014.
