VALLETTA: The Customs Department said today that it has stepped up inspections on products that are subject to excise tax.
Around 50 inspections were carried out during the first few days of this month at restaurants, supermarkets, private residences and warehouses in Attard, Sliema, Qawra, Bugibba, Marsaxlokk, Tarxien, Gzira, Santa Venera, Hamrun and Rabat.
19 of the inspections resulted positive and customs officials found 1,938 wine bottles without an excise tax sticker, 2,600 contraband cigarettes in a private residence, 14 alcohol bottles, 3,555 wine bottle excise stickers that were not being used in line with the law and 26,000 litres of lubricant oils. In many of these cases the products were seized, the due taxes collected and the relevant fines paid. The Customs Department also issued some 1,620 warnings.
The department said it also carried out regular border control checks with a focus on fishing vessels and ships. It found 37 tyres that were not registered and 800 contraband cigarettes. 486 undeclared wine bottles were found at Pinto Wharf. Inspections on vehicles leaving the Freeport also yielded 3,200 contraband cigarettes.
The department also carried out 2,882 inspections on parcels at the post office and referred ten of them to the health authorities because they contained substances that can be considered to be medicinal.
After an inspection on a number of fishing vessels officials issued a fine after they found that the fuel on board one of them, although registered, was not according to specifications.
The Customs Department said it will be intensifying its inspections in the coming days and appealed to anyone with information to come forward on 25685124.The information can be given confidentially.
