Greater collaboration needed to combat smugglers

Preventing the importation of cigarettes into Spain requires greater help from police in Gibraltar according to one Guardia Civil official.

The comments were made by Colonel of the Guardia Civil for Algeciras, Jesus Nuñez, who was speaking at a conference on smuggling, held at the local headquarters of the Menendez Pelayo International University yesterday.

Nuñez stated that Gibraltar should “play a more active role” in the prevention of illegal importation of cigarettes from the territory into Spain. According to him this entails working closely with forces in La Linea de la Concepcion and Campo de Gibraltar for whom smuggling is one of the biggest challenges.

In his speech the Colonel also highlighted the role of tobacco companies play in importing cigarettes to Gibraltar after 70 million were imported last year. He suggests that this number is excessively high for an enclave with a population of only 32,000 even taking tourism and the Territory’s high percentage of smokers into account.

It should be noted that Gibraltar has introduced legislation to make it increasingly more difficult for individuals to purchase cigarettes in quantity and only this week, three Spaniards were arrested on the Rock for breach of tobacco legislation.