An economic agent from the left bank of the Nistru and a customs broker are being targeted in an investigation by prosecutors for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) and officers from the Customs Service for cigarette smuggling. This was investigated by reporters from the Center for Investigative Journalism in Moldova (CIJM) in 2020 and revealed the main participants.

Prosecutors said in a statement issued on Thursday that it was a smuggling scheme with more than two million packs of cigarettes found following searches at four addresses in Causeni on February 9, 2022.

There are two Sheriff-controlled companies in the Transnistrian region that import cigarettes - Almavis and Tabimport.

SRL Almavis was opened on October 30, 2018 in Tiraspol and was licensed by the Public Services Agency on August 14, 2019. On December 30, 2019, the shareholding structure of the company was changed. The company is run by Russian citizen Petrov Serghei Vitali, who was born in the Russian Federation.

SRL Tabimport was founded on August 1, 2019 in Podoimița village, Camenca district, by Mazur Serghei Piotr, director and 100% owner of the company. Tabimport has been licensed to import tobacco products since August 7, 2019.

Tabimport introduces cigarettes to the left of the Nistru through the Rezina Customs, and Almavis - through the Causeni Customs.

As you probably noticed in the PCCOCS press release, it is about Almavis and a brokerage company from Causeni whose name we do not publish because we failed to contact its owner.

In turn, the company that provides brokerage services in Rezina, Broctrimex SRL, was founded by Eleonora Rotari, the wife of the PSRM city and district councilor, Valentin Rotari.

An investigation by the CIJM, published in November 2020, "Cigarette Smuggling Mafia: Dodon's Broker", revealed that Almavis and Tabimport were then the largest importers of cigarettes in Moldova.

The two companies imported in 2020 almost the same quantity in the Republic of Moldova as the major players on the world market for tobacco products - Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco International or British American Tabacco.

Out of the total of 3.3 billion cigarettes brought to Moldova, about 1.45 billion, the equivalent of 145 trucks, went to the Transnistrian region. The value of these shipments is about $ 22 million.