A total of 185,000 cigarettes on which duty had not been paid were seized by Customs officials yesterday.
Customs said in a statement that they caught a man from Swieqi passing some of these cigarettes to a shop owner in Msida. Officials had been following the van and acted as soon as its owner went down to pass on the work to the shop. The cigarettes were Bon International and Superking.
Customs also intercepted the van's owner leaving a garage in Swieqi driving another van full of contraband cigarettes.
Around €30,000 in taxes were supposed to be paid on the cigarettes.