Israeli arrested at Dherynia crossing with duty-free tobacco

Dherynia, Cyprus. An Israeli national was arrested after customs officers found duty-free tobacco products in a Turkish Cypriot taxi crossing into the south at Dherynia on Wednesday, in a case authorities said may be linked to a suspected “ant smuggling” ring.

Seizure at crossing point

Customs agents stopped the taxi while its Israeli passenger was travelling to Larnaca airport. They found 15 cartons containing 200 cigarettes each and 3kg of nargileh tobacco.

The products were duty free and did not carry the required health warnings. They were confiscated and sent for destruction.

The man was arrested and later released after reaching an out-of-court settlement of €2,000.

Suspected smuggling network

The customs department said there had been a worrying upward trend over the past two months involving Israeli nationals transporting tobacco products from the occupied areas.

It said the number of Israelis bringing tobacco from the north with the aim of taking it to Israel had increased, raising suspicions of a possible trafficking ring.

The department said that, following two hauls in February and November 2025 involving a trafficking ring using boats and ships off the coast of Cyprus to transport goods to Israel, the network appeared to have turned to “ant smuggling”.

“Ant smuggling” involves using many individuals to move small quantities of illegal goods, including cigarettes, drugs or cash, rather than transporting a single large shipment.

Recent customs figures

In June, Israelis accounted for 14 per cent of those caught smuggling tobacco products, with 41 of 288 cases. Of the cigarettes confiscated that month, 30 per cent, or 22,080 of 72,620, were found on Israelis.

In July, confiscated tobacco from Israelis accounted for 24.5 per cent of the total, with 46 of 188 cases. Cigarettes found on Israelis totalled 20,980 of 42,050, almost half of the overall haul.