Updated: undeclared cigarettes found on bunkering vessel

Two boxes containing 190,200 cigarettes on which duties had not been paid were found last night hidden in cabins in a ship at Malta Freeport, the Customs Department said.

The discovery was made by members of the Police Economic Crimes Unit and Customs Officers acting on a tip-off.

The Customs Department said the cigarettes were in a small tanker berthed alongside another ship. Nineteen vodka bottles on which duty had not been paid were also found.

The captain, a foreign national, was arrested.