BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, Feb. 13 (AP) - Slovak police broke up a gang of cigarette smugglers and police investigators charged 51 suspects with evasion of taxes and insurance, a newspaper reported Thursday.
hursday.
The cigarettes were smuggled from Ukraine and were distributed in Slovakia
and probably also to other countries through mail, the daily Sme said.
Police searched 40 homes on Tuesday and found 1 million cigarettes and other
illegally held objects.
A special team has worked on the case for a year, together with police from
the neighboring Czech Republic, authorities said. A police officer was among
the suspects.
Interior Minister Vladimir Palko estimated the ring was liable for some
US$255,755 in evaded taxes.
