French Customs Ramp Up Fight Against Andorra Cigarette Smuggling Rings

French customs authorities at the Porta border post are intensifying efforts against organised cigarette smuggling rings operating from Andorra into France, mainly through Pas de la Casa. Officials have pinpointed four networks: one based in Mostaganem, Algeria, plus Albanian, Sri Lankan, and Armenian groups.

Cerdanya customs division head Cyril Vathelet highlighted the professionalisation of the trade in a Le Pèlerin magazine report. "The traffic has fallen into the hands of well-organised bands," he said. The high-altitude post, at 2,000 metres in harsh Pyrenean conditions, processes three million crossings annually—averaging 3,000 vehicles daily and peaking above 9,000 in August. Agents remain cautious, aware of surveillance by smugglers.

The groups transport undocumented people to Pas de la Casa to buy tobacco in bulk, packing it into 10kg, 15kg, or 25kg bundles wrapped in black tape. Porters carry loads down mountainsides, even in winter, to evade checks. Vehicles collect them or the goods lower down. Spotting large groups prompts drops or hides for later retrieval, creating what officers call a "cat-and-mouse game." Networks deploy cheap, often uninsured cars lacking technical checks, concealing contraband in engine bays, fake fuel tanks, and even a hearse's door linings. Detection relies on sniffer dogs, endoscopes, and vehicle disassemblies.

Seizure volumes underscore the operation's size: a record 7.2 tonnes in 2023, dropping to 4.2 tonnes last year. Andorra's cartons, priced at €34-48—four to five times below France's—fuel the trade, far exceeding the 1.5-carton personal allowance. Priorities centre on disrupting supply chains to black markets in Toulouse and Marseille.

Andorran police from the Borders and Foreigners Unit bolstered these controls with operations over the past two weeks in Pas de la Casa, seizing 5,549 contraband packs and 300 grams of loose tobacco worth about €21,800. Key actions included:

- Halting a French-registered car at the Franco-Andorran border, revealing 1,099 packs and 300 grams in a false boot floor after removing rear seats (€4,320).

- Monitoring smugglers buying and stockpiling in a vacant building near France, accessed by force, where 2,500 packs hid in a false ceiling (€9,800).

- An anti-fraud check, backed by Citizen Security, netting 1,500 packs from three men in a French-plated car as they prepared to leave (€5,880).

- Recovering a 450-pack bundle stashed near the Ariège River (€1,760).

A late-May patrol added 1,210 packs (€4,750) hidden under a river bridge walkway.

Challenging terrain, weather, and traffic volumes test enforcement, yet joint French-Andorran actions aim to dismantle these entrenched routes.