the essential
Alerted by the increase in violent phenomena and thefts against tobacconists, the public prosecutor of Saint-Gaudens, Christophe Amunzateguy, announced the increase in customs controls at the Spanish border. Words.
How do you fight against the trafficking of contraband cigarettes?
Last year, I led an action with the national president of the confederation of tobacconists. In his presence, we signed a commitment agreement in order to try as much as possible to provide criminal responses to those who fuel or participate in this trafficking. Despite everything, the decree signed in March 2024, which modified the criteria for assessing the transport of tobacco from the EU, has cast some confusion.
That’s to say ?
That is to say that the rules are no longer the same and that we can now bring back, if it is a question of personal consumption, more tobacco than before, particularly from Spain than before. The Spanish are delighted, because they sell more, but that opened the door to a lot of abuse on the French side.
How do you limit this abuse?
We have intensified customs controls at the border and I am announcing to you that we are going to intensify them further. When we find four cartons of tobacco of different brands and we are told that it is for personal consumption… When there are more than four cartons, we simply confiscate the excess, if it is reasonable.
What if he isn’t?
In the case of a person who tries to cross the border with 20 cartridges for example, fines of 200 or 300 euros are imposed in addition to the confiscation of the tobacco.
Do you understand the distress of the department’s tobacconists, victims of contraband?
How can we not understand it? Sorry to be a tribune, but if we have to annoy people so that they respect the law by intensifying controls, all to save our tobacconists, then we will do it. This job is becoming dangerous. This is intolerable. Without claiming to be able to completely stem the bleeding at the border, we can already try to limit it.
