Significant cases of smuggling and illegal trafficking of products were uncovered by customs officers of the Greek Tax Authority during the second quarter of 2025. Utilizing modern equipment such as X-Ray machines and specially trained detection dogs, they proceeded with dozens of seizures of liquid assets, tobacco and alcoholic products, narcotics, counterfeit goods, and energy products.
Greek Tax Authority: Everything seized during April-June period
Indicatively, during the April-June period, the following were seized in total:
• €252,625, $86,366, 1,740 Bulgarian Leva, 108,000 Turkish Lira, 2,000,000 Japanese Yen, 106,000 UAE Dirhams
• 1,868,600 cigarettes, 772 kg tobacco, 50 cigars and 321 vaping devices
• 35 bottles, two wineskins and two stainless steel containers of alcoholic beverages
• 16,342 kg cannabis and various narcotic substance products
• 38,679 pieces of counterfeit/falsified products
In detail:
A. Undeclared liquid assets
At “Macedonia” airport, the following were detected:
• €10,400 on a passenger upon arrival from Istanbul
At “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport, with the assistance of detection dogs “Hant” and “Camora”, the following were detected:
• €10,900 on a passenger bound for Belgrade,
• €12,000 on a passenger upon arrival from New York,
• €11,200 on a passenger upon arrival from Cairo,
• €25,900 on passengers upon arrival from Istanbul,
• €3,050 & $10,000 on a passenger upon arrival from New York,
• €14,000 on a passenger upon arrival from Tel Aviv,
• $64,000 on a passenger upon arrival from Beijing.
At Kakavia Customs, €38,000 were detected in total.
At Kipi Customs, €75,225, $12,366, 1,740 Bulgarian Leva, 108,000 Turkish Lira were detected in total.
At Kastanies Customs, €13,900, 2,000,000 Japanese Yen, and 106,000 UAE Dirhams were detected in total.
At Doirani Customs, €27,550 were detected in total.
At Krystallopigi Customs, €10,500 were detected in total.
B. Contraband tobacco products
At Athens “Eleftherios Venizelos” Airport, with the assistance of detection dog “Bane”, the following were seized:
• 320,700 cigarettes, 16.5 kg fine-cut tobacco for hand-rolled cigarettes and 65.50 kg hookah tobacco carried in luggage by 13 passengers from Cairo and Istanbul. The passengers were arrested.
• 112,400 cigarettes carried in luggage by 3 passengers departing from Athens to Milan, Eindhoven and London, who were arrested.
• 819,600 cigarettes and 639.46 kg hookah tobacco found in abandoned luggage without passenger or flight details
• In packages/cargo:
– 400,000 cigarettes from Thailand declared as toothpaste with an Athens-based recipient company.
– 47,600 cigarettes and 20 kg fine-cut tobacco for hand-rolled cigarettes bound for UK and Belgium.
– 50 cigars in two packages from Dominican Republic.
– 321 vaping devices with 2% nicotine content from Canada.
At “Macedonia” airport, a passenger from Istanbul to Thessaloniki was found carrying 4,600 cigarettes.
At Patras Customs, 9,440 cigarettes and 850 gr tobacco were found and seized at local markets in Patras Municipality.
At Kastanies Customs, 1,600 cigarettes were found and seized.
At Mykonos Customs, 72,000 cigarettes were found and seized.
At Kakavia Customs, 1,600 cigarettes were found and seized.
At Evzones Customs, with the help of detection dogs “Boyka” and “Aria”, 15,260 cigarettes and 600 gr tobacco were detected in vehicles upon entry, hidden in various parts of vehicles and passenger luggage.
At Kipi Customs, with the help of detection dog “Magnum”, 63,800 cigarettes and 29.5 kg tobacco were detected in vehicles upon entry.
C. Illegal alcoholic products and distillation equipment
At Kipi Customs, 33 bottles of alcoholic beverages were detected and seized in total.
From Kavala Customs, the following were found and confiscated:
• In Nea Peramos, 2 wineskins of 10 liters each containing distillate from two-day distillation due to lack of legal purchase documents, and 2 stainless steel containers totaling 13 liters with distillation product.
• In Keramoti, 2 bottles of alcoholic beverage totaling 2.4 liters bearing Bulgarian tax authority markings and tax tape, from a restaurant. The establishment was subsequently sealed.
D. Counterfeit goods
At Athens “Eleftherios Venizelos” Airport, officers confiscated 1,172 pieces of counterfeit goods (clothing, bags) found either in passenger luggage or commercial shipment packages from Turkey, and 146 pieces of counterfeit goods (hair accessories) in a package from Hong Kong.
At Kipi Customs, inspections revealed 37,330 pieces of clothing confiscated as counterfeit goods inside a truck.
At Kavala Customs, the following were found and confiscated:
• 16 pairs of sunglasses of various brands at Kavala local market
• 15 T-shirts of various companies at Krinides local market.
E. Smuggling
At Athens “Eleftherios Venizelos” Airport, the following were detected:
• one weapon bolt in a package to USA via mail.
• one weapon bolt in a package to France via mail.
• fake paintings in a package from Peru via courier company.
• 70 kg insecticide substances in passenger luggage from Paris.
At Orestiada Customs, officers detected 4 liters of banned Turkish pesticide in a vehicle, without circulation permit and parallel import license from the Ministry of Rural Development and Food.
At Kastanies Customs, 18 bottles of 1-liter pesticide were detected and confiscated.
At Kipi Customs, inspections of passengers upon entry revealed and confiscated:
• 60 packages of baklava, weighing 1,250 gr each
• gold jewelry weighing 767.59 gr with diamonds weighing 127.27 ct and one silver jewelry piece 17.30 gr
• 138 pieces of clothing
• 16 boxes of pharmaceutical preparations
At Kastoria Customs, an illegal export attempt was detected. Specifically, 15 garments made from wild feline fur with the commercial name Bobcat and scientific name Lynx Rufus (North American Lynx) were found – fur-bearing animals protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, whose circulation is permitted only when accompanied by special permits.
At Mytilene Customs, following inspection of a vehicle from Turkey, 5 small gold plates weighing between 2.5 and 20 grams each were detected.
F. Fuel
Customs officers from the Attica Customs Control Service (ΕΛΥΤ), posing as municipal employees, entered a truck parking area in Magoula, Attica and detected an illegal tank with 1-ton capacity containing 300 liters of diesel and pumps for illegal fuel supply to tanker trucks.
G. Narcotics
At Athens “Eleftherios Venizelos” Airport, in passenger luggage and cargo, the following were found and seized with the help of detection dogs “Diego”, “Hant”, “Camora” and “Bane”:
• 4,578 gr cannabis in package from Canada via mail, followed by arrest of one person
• 9,622.90 gr cannabis in packages from Thailand via mail, followed by arrests of six people
• 56.4 gr cannabis in package from UK via mail, followed by arrest of one person
• 2,085.10 gr cannabis and other items (gummies, ampoules) containing cannabis in packages from USA via mail, followed by arrests of three people
Finally, Athens “Eleftherios Venizelos” Airport Customs proceeded with incineration destruction at a high furnace in Distomo, Boeotia of narcotics seized previously. Specifically destroyed: 248,519 gr KHAT, 89,529 gr cannabis, 5,449 gr methamphetamine and 30,650 narcotic pills.
At Mytilene Customs, following inspection of a vehicle from Turkey, 0.19 grams of cannabis plant extracts were detected.
At Xanthi Customs, cannabis products were confiscated from a wholesale warehouse, which laboratory tests revealed contained psychotropic substances such as Hexahydrocannabinol, acetic tetrahydrocannabinol, tetrahydrocannabiphorol. Many contained tetrahydrocannabinol in percentages exceeding legal limits.
Total seizures:
• 355 packages of cannabis products totaling 568 gr and 14 ml as follows:
• 262 packages of cannabis flowers totaling 489 gr,
• 79 cannabis cigarettes totaling 79 gr and
• 14 electronic cigarettes with total capacity 14 ml.
Additionally, according to the Greek Medicines Organization response, the cannabis product supplier company, with main tax activity being wholesale trade of health food supplements, was not found registered in the food supplements registry. Therefore, distribution of these products was illegal.
H. Other customs violations
At Kipi Customs, vehicle inspections revealed:
• disassembled hunting rifle without required transport permit.
• 9mm pistol with 11 9mm cartridges in magazine and attached flashlight, without required transport permit. Additionally, 20 hunting weapon cartridges were found hidden in the back seat.
• 1 pistol & 31 cartridges.
