Gibraltar police and customs given additional tobacco stop and search powers

Monday, March 2nd 2015 - 05:35 UTC

Full article 5 comments

This allows for full implementation of the EC’s recommendation that Gibraltar carry out random checks for contraband tobacco on vehicles travelling to Spain.

Gibraltar police and customs officers have been given additional stop and search powers inside so-called tobacco ‘special zones’. Until now, officers required reasonable suspicion of a tobacco offence before they could stop vehicles and question the occupants.

But a change in the law allows officers to stop vehicles and ask questions “…on a random basis and without the requirement for there to be reasonable [suspicion of an offence]…”

The change clears the way for full implementation of the European Commission’s recommendation that Gibraltar carry out random checks for contraband tobacco on vehicles travelling from Gibraltar into Spain.

Customs officers have been conducting searches on outbound vehicles but these have mostly been intelligence-led rather than random, with specific vehicles targeted to be stopped.

Speaking in Parliament last week, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the new powers came on the back of a request from John Rodriguez, the Collector of Customs.

He said it also provided “retrospective legal cover if necessary” for the way that vehicles had been stopped and searched to date in special zones.

The new legislation was published in the Gibraltar Gazette and is already in force.

Categories: Politics.

Tags: Gibraltar, Gibraltar tobacco contraband, Royal Gibraltar Police, Spain, Spain/Gibraltar.

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules

golfcronie
This will put the fear of God into the Spanish smugglers no doubt.
Mar 02nd, 2015 - 01:30 pm 0
LEPRecon
@1 golfcronie

It's doubtful as they won't be able to 'bribe' the Gibraltarian police to look the other way, which is what they do with the Spanish police.

But it does make the Spanish claims that Gibraltar is a hotbed of tobacco smuggling look foolish, especially when everyone with half a brain knows that it is Spain where the majority of the smuggling happens.
Mar 02nd, 2015 - 08:20 pm 0
Turtle Island
British pirates, even today in this century have left to smuggle illegal goods. I should not be surprised if that these “pirates” are those that are behind the trafficking in organs.
Mar 03rd, 2015 - 01:00 am 0

Read all comments

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!