French customs had an “exceptional” year 2022, marked by ever-increasing increases in seizures in the counterfeiting and tobacco trafficking sectors, according to a final report published on Wednesday.
The fight against tobacco smuggling resulted in particular last year in a new record with 649.07 tonnes of tobacco and cigarettes seized, against 402 tonnes in 2021 (+61%), said the Ministry of Public Accounts. , on which customs depend, in a press release. For the first time, five clandestine cigarette manufacturing factories were dismantled in France in 2022.
Drug seizures fell slightly
In the fight against counterfeiting, seizures increased again by 27% in 2022 and doubled in two years: 11.53 million items were intercepted in 2022 compared to 9.1 million in 2021 and 5.6 million in 2020.
Drug seizures, on the other hand, have fallen slightly, even if they remain at a fairly high level: 104.08 tonnes were seized last year (115.4 in 2021), of which 80% were seized across France. by all “law enforcement agencies”. “It’s an exceptional record (…) which shows that customs officers are becoming more efficient every year,” said Gabriel Attal. The Minister of Public Accounts added “to set as a priority” the fight against contraband tobacco, considering that the increase in seizures testifies to the efficiency of customs officers but also “to an increase in trafficking with criminal, mafia networks, which were previously on drug trafficking and turned to tobacco trafficking”.
Further rise in seizures of criminal assets
The Senate will examine from Wednesday a bill dedicated to customs which provides in particular to increase the penalties against those involved in tobacco trafficking. The year 2022 was also marked by a further increase in seizures of criminal assets with 175.5 million euros intercepted or seized by judicial customs officers (+40%), while 1,135 weapons were seized in 2022 compared to 805 in 2021 (+ 41%), mainly among collectors.
This refined and final assessment follows an initial assessment published in February by the Ministry of Public Accounts.
The press release also specifies that the customs services have been mobilized by the war in Ukraine, “four cargo ships, seven yachts and sailing ships and seven helicopters” belonging to sanctioned Russians having been immobilized by the coast guard, and “four works of art apprehended by customs”.