A Ukrainian man caught with 19,000 cigarettes in his luggage while entering Malta was denied bail this morning after pleading not guilty to having breached customs laws.

Ihor Klymenko, 38, from Kiev, was charged with having breached the Customs Ordinance, the Excise Duty Act and the VAT act.

The court, presided over by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, heard how the man was arrested after being stopped by customs officials soon after landing on a flight from Riga, Latvia at around 2.00am on Monday.

After going through the ‘Nothing to Declare’ channel, customs officials scanned his luggage. The scan yielded the cigarette cache, which included 70 cartons of 200 NZ American Blend brand cigarettes and 250 packets of 20 cigarettes.

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The man should have paid €3,322 in excise duty, €317 in importation tax and €754 in VAT, the prosecution said. 

Although defence lawyer Chris Chircop entered a request for bail, this was met with strong objection by the prosecution, who noted that the man intended to stay in Malta for just a week, lodging at a Cospicua hotel. If he were to be released on bail, there was a likelihood that "he would leave the islands for good."

In view of the fact that the accused had no ties in Malta, the court upheld the prosecution’s line of argument, thus remanding the man in custody.

Inspector Antonovitch Muscat prosecuted. Lawyer Chris Chircop was legal aid.