Illicit

Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) head Giorgos Pitsilis and Papastratos chairman and CEO Christos Harpantidis have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at battling the illicit trade in tobacco products, it was announced on Friday.

The agreement strengthens strategic cooperation between the two sides to combat the illicit trade.

Moldova has long played a major role in the illicit trade in anabolic steroids. But was the country's envoy to Russia also in on the act?

Turkish police seized 670 kilograms (about 1,477 pounds) of heroin in the eastern Van province over the last five days, the country's Interior Minister said on May 29.  

Süleyman Soylu lauded the efforts of the provincial police and anti-narcotics teams, saying the seizures were a heavy blow to the illicit drug trade.

One in three Romanians declares that they would buy smuggled products, found an IRES survey commissioned by the anti-illicit trade association ACTIV on the occasion of the National Day of Fight against Illicit Trade in Goods, which is observed every year on April 21.

At least six people were detained on Tuesday following a series of raids by police in the Athens neighborhood of Exarchia which the conservative government has pledged to purge of crime. 
According to police sources, the raids focused on drug dealing and the illicit trade in contraband tobacco as well as a crackdown on undocumented migrants living in anarchist-run squats in the area.

The cigarette black market in Romania fell in September below 11pct of the total consumption, for the first time in the last ten years, due to the sharp reduction in "no-name" products, show the findings of the Novel research, made public on Thursday. At the national level, the illegal trade in cigarettes thus reached 10.5pct, down 3.2 percentage points compared to July this year.

Interview with Mila Marechkova, Head of Marketing Operations in British American Tobacco Bulgaria:

The most recent results of the Empty Pack Survey that measures the levels of illegal trade in our country were just presented. How will you comment on them?

The trade in illicit cigarettes and tobacco in Bosnia is booming, undercutting legal products that are heavily taxed.

Police seized a total of 1.96 million illicit drug pills in an operation in the southern coastal city of Mersin, Demirören News Agency reported.

Authorities seized on March 13 hundreds of exotic pets smuggled into the Philippines, which is a regional hub in the illicit animal trade.