The Armed Forces of Malta seized thousands of contraband cigarettes when they stopped a Maltese-registered fishing boat a few miles off Malta this morning.

The operation started at sunrise where an AFM vessel noted the boat acting suspiciously in Maltese territorial waters.

Army personnel boarded the vessel just off the Maltese coast and  found boxes containing thousands of cigarettes.

Due to the amounts of tobacco involved and the suspicion that the items were being smuggled to Malta, the AFM personnel escorted the boat to harbour and handed over the men  and the items  to customs officials.

The police are investigating.

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