Poland’s Border Guard, together with the National Revenue Administration, has dismantled a gang involved in smuggling cigarettes from Belarus. Seven Polish citizens have been detained.
According to the Border Guard, the group operated in Biała Podlaska County between 2023 and 2025. During that period, the smugglers transported at least 889,000 packs of cigarettes across the border, with an estimated value of 14 million zlotys (about $3.8 million). The loss to the Polish treasury was estimated at 26 million zlotys (about $6.9 million).
The cigarettes were smuggled into Poland through the Terespol railway border crossing using freight trains.
The suspects, aged between 25 and 66, have been charged with participation in an organised criminal group and tobacco smuggling. Five of them have been placed in pre-trial detention by court order.
During searches, investigators seized a television, balaclavas, stamps, data storage devices, documents and narcotics.
