English
In three of the seven detected cases, it was established that trucks loaded with cigarettes entered Macedonia via the Bogorodica border crossing under a transit procedure—two bound for Moldova and one for Serbia. Instead of the transit being carried out in accordance with customs regulations, the cigarettes were illegally unloaded within the territory of the Republic of Macedonia; the trucks subsequently left the country empty via the Tabanovce border crossing, despite having been recorded in the customs system as fully loaded.
This was announced today by the Director of the Customs Administration, Boban Nikolovski, at a press conference regarding the investigation codenamed “Filter.” In this operation, the Customs Administration—coordinating with the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecuting Organized Crime and Corruption (BPPO-POCC) and collaborating with the Department for Suppression of Organized and Serious Crime within the Ministry of Interior’s Public Security Bureau (PSB)—uncovered an organized cigarette smuggling scheme that caused damage to the state budget exceeding 377 million denars (over 6.1 million euros).
Regarding the remaining four cases, Nikolovski reported that the trucks loaded with cigarettes entered via the Bogorodica border crossing without their entry being recorded at all by customs or police officers. He emphasized that the operation covers cases occurring between January 1, 2026, and June 30, 2024, noting that across the seven discovered cases, a total of 69,350,000 cigarettes were illegally released into free circulation.
As part of the same investigation, four cases were uncovered in which trucks loaded with cigarettes entered through the Bogorodica border crossing without their entry into the country being recorded by either customs or police officers. The cigarettes were subsequently unloaded within Macedonian territory without proper documentation or placement under the appropriate customs procedure, and without payment of the legally required duties. “The total quantity of cigarettes across all seven discovered cases amounts to 69,350,000 cigarettes illegally released into free circulation in the country,” Nikolovski pointed out.
The Director of the Customs Administration reported that criminal charges have been filed against three legal entities and 18 individuals, including four customs officers, three police officers, a freight forwarding agency, a transport company, and an import company. Early this morning, he emphasized that searches had been conducted at 23 locations, resulting in the detention of 13 individuals—including four customs officers, two police officers, two drivers, and five other private citizens—while contact has been established with three individuals currently abroad, who are expected to report in upon their return.
He added that on September 23, 2026, the Customs Administration filed criminal charges with the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecuting Organized Crime and Corruption (BPPO-POCC) for the offenses of smuggling, customs fraud, negligent performance of official duties, abuse of official position and authority, computer fraud, and evasion of excise duty payment.