Smuggler caught with 190,000 cigarettes fined £9,000

A man who was caught attempting to smuggle 190,00 cigarettes to a value of nearly £25,000 out of Gibraltar was handed a £9,000 fine. 

Spanish national Fernando Puyol Lebron, 41, of La Linea, appeared before the Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where he pleaded guilty to a charge of being Knowingly Concerned in the Exportation of a Commercial Quantity of Cigarettes.  

He also also pleaded guilty to Dangerous Driving and Unlawful Transportation of Cigarettes in a Commercial Quantity, to which he received No Separate Penalties. 

The court heard that at around 2am on December 9 last year, RGP officers patrolling Queensway spotted Puyol Lebron travelling in a Gibraltar-plated car at an unusually slow speed. 

As the officers slowed down to investigate, the car suddenly accelerated, causing the speed camera on Queensway to activate.  

Upon reaching the roundabout at Mid Harbour Estate, Puyol Lebron took a sudden left turn, travelling the incorrect way against the flow of traffic into Coaling Island and ignoring a No Entry sign.  

He then abandoned the vehicle and ran off, before appearing from behind several parked cars and attempting to leave the area.  

He was subsequently arrested and brought to New Mole House Police Station.  

Officers found that the vehicle’s rear seats had been completely removed in order to accommodate numerous cardboard boxes containing 190,000 cigarettes in a variety of assorted brands.