French Court Sentences Polish Man for Andorra Tobacco and Alcohol Smuggling
A 49-year-old Polish resident in Occitanie receives a four-month suspended sentence and €927 fine for making 11 trips to buy cheap goods for resale,.
Key Points
- 11 trips to Andorra from Sept 2024–2025 to buy and resell taxed tobacco/alcohol.
- Caught in minibus with 161 cigarette packs, kg of rolling tobacco, 150 alcohol bottles, 239 beers.
- Investigation used phone tracking, bank records after tobacconist complaints of unfair competition.
- Defendant claimed personal use; no prior convictions; reported by La Dépêche du Midi.
A French court in Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne, near Toulouse, sentenced a 49-year-old Polish resident of Moissac in Occitanie to a four-month suspended prison term and a €927 customs fine for smuggling tobacco and alcohol purchased in Andorra.
Authorities confirmed the man made at least 11 trips to Andorra between September 2024 and September 2025, mainly on Sundays, to buy heavily taxed goods cheaply and resell them in France. The investigation began after complaints from local tobacconists about unfair competition from Andorra's lower prices. Officers used phone tracking and bank records to build the case, leading to the man's arrest in the act on 14 September 2025.
Gendarmes stopped a minibus returning from Andorra with eight occupants. Inside, they discovered 161 packets of cigarettes, several kilograms of rolling tobacco, around 150 bottles of alcohol, and 239 cans of beer. The group later transferred the goods to other vehicles in a commercial car park for distribution.
At trial, the defendant rejected claims of organized smuggling, insisting the products were for personal consumption and friends. Prosecutors countered that the trips showed repeated activity that undercut French retailers.
The man had no previous convictions. The case was first reported by French newspaper *La Dépêche du Midi*.
Original Sources
This article was aggregated from the following Catalan-language sources: