France, Spain, Andorra Intensify Crackdown on Tobacco Smuggling

French and Spanish authorities, alongside Andorran police, are ramping up efforts against tobacco smuggling and related crimes from the principality, with recent border seizures, domestic arrests and infrastructure investments highlighting the crackdown.

On 19 January, customs officers from Montauban in France's Tarn-et-Garonne department stopped an SUV near Caussade heading toward the A20 motorway. Its excessive weight during a morning check led to the discovery of 806 cartons—more than 8,000 packs, mostly Philip Morris—packed floor-to-ceiling in the trunk, seats and floor. The black-market value neared €105,000. Officers unloaded and sealed the boxes, some marked with customs tape. The driver now faces administrative and criminal penalties as probes target the linked distribution network. Toulouse customs described this as part of a rising wave of regional busts, with checks expanding to roads, airports and rail lines.

Earlier, on 12 January, Ax-les-Thermes customs in Ariège pursued two suspicious vehicles convoying north on the RN-20 toward Toulouse. When signalled to halt, drivers U-turned, sped off and tossed sports bags onto the road, risking other drivers. One car was caught, its Albanian driver detained before court. Roadside searches recovered four bags with 2,050 packs of Andorran cigarettes destined for Toulouse's black market. He pleaded guilty via immediate procedure, receiving four months in prison, €26,500 in fines for smuggling and refusing orders, vehicle and phone forfeiture, and a three-year French entry ban.

In Spain, the La Farga de Moles post with Catalonia recorded 117 violations in 2023, generating €117,246 in fines—up from €86,274 across 114 cases in 2022. Seizures included 11,850 cigarette packs, 138.5 kg of loose tobacco (nearly double the previous year) and 2,212 small cigars or cigarillos, found inside and outside the post. Legal limits allow travellers 300 cigarettes, 150 small cigars or 400g of loose tobacco from Andorra.

Newer developments include early-January Toulouse-Frouzins operations seizing over 5,700 packs: 1,700+ hidden in a ditch near the city on 3 January, and 4,000+ in a speeding vehicle on the Pamplona-Toulouse motorway early on 5 January. The tobacco was incinerated.

Inside Andorra, police arrested two non-resident women, aged 30 and 34, on Sunday for stealing clothing, tobacco and alcohol worth over €800 from Andorra la Vella shops. Store security aided their identification and location of the French-plated getaway car. One carried a small amount of marijuana; the other had a prior 2024 theft check. They face property crime charges. Separately, a 30-year-old Turkish tourist was detained last weekend at the Riu Runer border with 30ml liquid cocaine, 2.62g heroin, 0.59g hashish and 1.35g marijuana. Five other tourists faced public health offences, and five men aged 20-35—four tourists—were arrested for drink-driving.

France is bolstering presence near the border. L'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre plans a €3 million barracks from an old farm to house a permanent gendarme unit, easing pressure on Ax-les-Thermes and centralising scattered teams. A former site closed in 2025. The area sees 15,000-20,000 daily vehicles amid rising tobacco and alcohol smuggling, illegal immigration and insecurity, including smuggler fights and abandoned cars. A mobile brigade launched in December 2024 works with Foix's PSIG, departmental reservists and Ariège's road safety squadron, collaborating with Andorran police and Guardia Civil. Mixed Andorra-France patrols target smuggling.

Andorra responded with October legislation tripling tobacco sale penalties, banning combined tobacco licences, adding transparency rules, enabling sales-hour limits and suspending 86 sensitive-goods licences at Pas de la Casa pending review. On 14 [month unspecified], the government set minimum public tobacco prices under 2019 law to curb illegal trade. Interior Ministry reinforced Pas policing, adding 15 posts to nine new hires for a fixed group amid resident security concerns.

Ariège prefect Hervé Brabant, appointed November 2024, noted 13,000 cartons (130,000 packs) seized in 2025 during his Christmas address, succeeding Simon Bertoux, who authorised border drones in May 2024 near sites like L'Hospitalet.