CHAOS: At the border
CHAOS: At the border

A GIBRALTARIAN woman claims her car was impounded after she failed to declare one packet of cigarettes when crossing the border into Spain.

The woman – who wishes to remain anonymous – was ‘totally shocked’ after the Guardia Civil seized her car when they discovered 20 undeclared cigarettes in her glove compartment.

Officers reportedly told her that she would be allowed to go, but they changed their minds and impounded her vehicle.

The incident took place in the middle of the day when the woman took the green lane at the border as she ‘genuinely thought’ she had nothing to declare.

She was pulled over by customs officers who conducted a full search of her vehicle.

When the officer found the packet of cigarettes he held it up and said ‘What’s this?’.

He then told her not to worry and said that they would not detain her car for such a small infringement.

However, another Guardia officer stepped in and after talking with his colleague, told the woman to hand over her passport, car keys and log book.

A frontier customs administrator told the woman she ‘must have caught the GC officer in question, on a bad day.’

After complaining to the Guardia Civil headquarters in Algeciras the car was finally returned.

The Guardia Civil has so far failed to comment.

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15 COMMENTS

  1. Truly pathetic. It is terrible to see how jealous and spiteful Spain is towards Gibraltar, but it only mirrors what is a very jealous and spiteful government who, with such enormous problems to overcome, are still worried about a little land mass. Let us hope the current government is ousted and we get someone who will engage in a proper dialogue for the benefit of both Spain and Gibraltar. The EU will be taking note and it will only further undermine Spain.

    • Even if Podemos comes to power, I doubt that he will diverge from the official Spanish position on Gibraltar. Maybe he will be less hostile towards Gibraltar, like the previous socialist governments, but not further than that. Or he could play the populist card and be as hostile or even more hostile than the current conservative Spanish government. Who knows?

  2. Bearing in mind the limit for local residents is 80 cigs per month, and if you live further afield it is 200, then this ‘un-named woman’ must have already exceeded her monthly allocation and therefore should be fully aware of the legal limits. Or are we saying that the law doesn’t count in this case?

    I’m not saying what was done was equitable but in every Country, not just Spain, the law can be an ass!

  3. With all the recent terrorist attacks and associated security problems, they stop someone for being over by “one” packet of fags. If they were already opened, she was not over the limit anyway. Petty in the extreme.

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