15 million counterfeit cigarettes seized

Over 15 million counterfeit cigarettes that were in transit through Malta's Freeport were seized by Customs officials in recent days.

A spokesman for the Customs department said 9.6 million cigarettes falsely branded as Memphis and 15.2 million carrying a false Superkings brand were found in two containers.

The documents accompanying the containers indicated that the cigarettes were being sent by a tobacco company in India to Mersin in Turkey.

A spokesman for the Customs Department said customs officers became suspicious after a physical check on the contents of the containers. Samples were sent to the manufacturers of the brands and laboratory tests confirmed the suspicions.

The spokesman also said that recently customs officers seized three containers carrying 38,000 pairs of suspected counterfeit Puma and Nike sports shoes that were on their way from the Far East to North Africa.

Investigations on these and other products including counterfeit cellular phone accessories are in progress, the spokesman added.