Alex Trelinski
A consignment of 9,780 illegal handmade cigars went up in smoke for a man who had his stash seized by the Guardia Civil.
The motorist, 70, got twitchy when driving in the Villena area of Alicante Province as he spotted a Guardia checkpoint looming up down the road.
He made an evasive manoeuvre prompting suspicious officers to chase him in their patrol vehicle.
They got him to pull over and smelt a strong tobacco odour wafting out of the car boot.
On opening the trunk, they discovered six large cardboard boxes with 9,780 hand-rolled Calico cigars inside.
The retail value was under €8,000.
The ten-centimetre long cigars had a rough appearance and were laced with sugar to mask the bitter taste of the home concoction.
The clandestine dealer could be fined up to €27,000 for his transgression.
READ MORE:
- Illegal cigarette factories which churned out 18,000 fags per MINUTE dismantled in Spain’s Madrid and Costa Blanca
- Enough tobacco to make 11 million cigarettes seized as smuggling gang arrested in raids throughout Spain and Portugal
