Luxembourg’s Customs and Excise Administration seize 122,418 cigarettes from a flight which arrived in Luxembourg from Warsaw (Poland); Credit: Customs and Excise Agency (ADA)

On Thursday 17 September 2026, Luxembourg’s Customs and Excise Administration reported that last month 122,418 smuggled cigarettes were seized on a flight which arrived in Luxembourg from Warsaw (Poland).

According to the Customs and Excise Administration, a customs inspection was carried out on three passengers on Friday 28 August at Findel Airport after they had just disembarked from the flight. One of the passengers was an Armenian national, while the other two were Bulgarian nationals. 

The luggage belonging to the three individuals consisted of six suitcases completely filled with cigarettes originating from non-EU countries. During the inspection, customs officers counted and seized 122,418 smuggled cigarettes. The administration said the intention was to circumvent customs controls and thereby avoid declaring the goods and paying the applicable taxes.

The administration said that in order to conceal their origin in non-EU countries – in this case Turkey and Armenia – the individuals travelled via Warsaw from Istanbul and Yerevan, thereby seeking to give the appearance of intra-European travel.

In cooperation with the French authorities, it was established that the Bordeaux region was the presumed destination for the seized cigarettes. The French customs authorities were informed of the seizure.

The Customs and Excise Administration highlighted that with this seizure, and together with the customs authorities of other EU Member States, the Luxembourg customs authorities had once again fulfilled their mission of protecting the internal market against the illicit trade in manufactured tobacco products and defending the financial interests of the European Union and its Member States.