John Culatto
NEARLY £50,000 in cash and over 3,500 cartons of cigarettes were confiscated by Customs in two operations this week.
A suspected Spanish smuggler and shop-owner were arrested in one operation although in the other the suspects had fled the scene.
The Customs caught the first pair loading a car in the Ocean Heights area at around 5pm.
The Spanish national driving the vehicle was arrested on the spot as he had 200 cartons of cigarettes in his car.
This is considered a commercial quantity of tobacco under Gibraltar law.
Customs officers then went into the shop and arrested its director.
They then confiscated 438 cartons of cigarettes, €32,850 and £18,825 that was in the shop.
Both of the accused were taken to the police station to be processed.
In the other incident, the Customs saw a car speeding into Eastern Beach at around 1am on Tuesday night.
When the Customs patrol car arrived, they saw the vehicle had been abandoned with the doors left wide open.
When the locally registered vehicle and nearby area was searched, 3,000 cartons of cigarettes were found of different brands.
Both the car and the cigarettes were impounded, with investigations continuing for both cases.
In a separate incident, local man Christian Scott Baglietto, 42, from Glacis
Estate was arrested on Thursday afternoon.
The RGP had linked him to an Ocean Village burglary on Wednesday when cash was stolen and damage caused to premises.
Following CID inquiries, Baglietto was charged for the offence and was in the Magistrates Court this morning.
