Over 7 million cigarettes seized from smuggler in Greece

Greek authorities have arrested a 64-year-old man for trying to smuggle the huge load of cigarettes. (Representational image)

Greek authorities have seized more than seven million cigarettes being smuggled to EU countries and the United Kingdom, according to the shipping ministry.

The ministry said Saturday that officials of the Central Port Authority of Igoumenitsa in western Greece arrested a 64-year-old from an unnamed foreign country on charges of smuggling.

The authorities who seized his refrigerator truck on Friday found 7,198,200 cigarettes hidden in more than 5,000 containers of yoghurt.

The sum of evaded custom duties and taxes for the confiscated goods amount to more than 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million).

"The confiscated quantity of smuggled cigarettes was to be distributed on the illegal markets of the European Union and the United Kingdom", the ministry statement added, citing the analysis so far.