Contraband

Members of the interdepartmental market control unit DIMEA found and seized thousands of bootleg goods from a clothing and footwear factory in Peristeri, western Athens, according to a statement released on Thursday.

A search on the factory turned up around 10,316 contraband items of clothing and footwear, of which 8,599 had brand imprints. 

Turkish security forces have seized some 3.6 tons of contraband tobacco in central Turkey, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

Gendarmerie forces stopped a truck belonging to a cargo company in Niğde's Ulukışla district during regular patrols.

They confiscated 3.6 tons of contraband tobacco in the truck, the agency cited anonymous security sources as saying.

The first police raid on a university campus since the abolition of the asylum law last month took place on the premises of the Athens University of Economics and Business early on Friday. 

Officers arrested foreign nationals believed to have been plying their wares on and around the university grounds.

Three suspects were arrested in the campus of Athens University in possession of 2,457 packets of contraband cigarettes, police said.
The suspects, all foreign nationals, face charges of violating Greek customs law.

Authorities have seized contraband items weighing more that 5.5 tons that were being peddled on central streets and squares in the port city of Piraeus, an official announcement said on Saturday.

The items included clothing and home appliances. All the contraband was loaded onto municipal garbage trucks and destroyed.

More than 7 tons of contraband goods were confiscated on Tuesday in joint raids conducted by police and local authorities in Piraeus.

The operations were launched at Ippodameias and Odissou squares, on Alipedou and Kolokotroni streets and the Tinaneio park.

The seized goods were destroyed.

Customs authorities may have had a remarkably fruitful year in 2017 as regards inspections on tobacco products - confiscating 154 million contraband cigarettes and imposing taxes and fines of 581 million euros - but they also excelled in original catches, which included the confiscation of crocodiles, eels, sturgeon eggs, underwear and cutlery.

The authorities in Turkey have seized tens of thousands of packets of contraband cigarettes in a series of raids across the country from Jan. 20 to Jan. 22.

Customs officials in Thessaloniki on Friday confiscated 10 million packets of contraband cigarettes from a container inspected at the northern port on Thursday.

The cigarettes were traced by a sniffer dog and customs officials used a new x-ray machine to scan the container.

The cargo had been declared to be Christmas decorations, according to customs officials.

Officers of the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) confiscated some 100,000 bootleg items from a warehouse in Aegaleo, western Athens, on Wednesday.

The goods - chiefly fake designer bags and purses - were found in dozens of boxes.

Mostly from China, it is thought that most of the items had been destined for the Aegean islands and other tourist destinations.