Police chase down two suspected smugglers in Gibraltar with £17,000 of tobacco in their car

POLICE have arrested two men suspected of trying to smuggle tobacco after chasing them down Gibraltar roads on motorcycles.

Officers were patrolling Queensway when they noticed a suspicious looking Citroen car driving northwards.

“The car in question immediately accelerated and drove in the direction of Coaling Island, followed by the officers on their motorcycles,” Gibraltar’s police said in a statement.

“Once at Coaling Island, the car’s two occupants abandoned their vehicle and fled.”

But police officers gave chase and quickly arrested the two men.

One of them, aged 22, was a local, while the second was a 41-year-old Spanish national.

Police then re-arrested the local man over eight warrants issued by the Magistrates Court against him at New Mole House Police Station.

Officers searched the car and found 37 boxes of cigarettes with an estimated street value of £17,000.

The two men are now on bail until January 2024.

It follows the Customs seizure of 20,000 cigarettes at the Catalan Bay car parking last month as smugglers tried to load it into a waiting boat.

ALSO READ:

• Customs catch up with men as they try to load 20,000 cigarettes from Gibraltar
• Gibraltar ‘pleased’ as Spain’s police arrest six suspects from Eastern Beach incident last month
• Customs officers charge two Gibraltar men with £22 million money laundering over illegal cigarette sales