Dili, 02 March 2026 (Média Democracia) – PNTL through the Integrated Team of Maritime Police Intelligence unit detected suspicious movements from organized crime importing illegal goods or banned items into Timor-Leste.
According to spokeperson Superintendent Police João Belo dos Reis, in this detection, the Integrated Team managed to stop a car marked nissan or mini-bus in Kasnafar mota-ulun, so they could conducted a search the goods that the car was carrying.
“In this detection, our team managed to found goods that are prohinited to enter Timor, such as 50 boxes Marlboro cigarettes. Futhermore according to our detection, they are suspected of importing these goods from the sea, and now the suspect with the car carrying illegal goods, are under investigation by Criminal Investigation Unit, to be processed for identification, so we can determine who is responsible, as for now it’s just the driver. PNTL will continue to conduct operations on goods related to the suspect’s activities.” Said spokeperson Superintendent Police João Belo dos Reis
The spokeperson added, intelligence services and other integrated services will continue to track down illegal cigarettes being imported into Timor-Leste.
“The cigarettes we found carried with the same transportation because they aren’t the first time entering Timor, so we’ll track down whereabouts of these cigarettes, who uses, and who keeps. We’ll follow up. Marlboro has legal imports by registered Companies, that bring in cigarettes legally, but there are other productions that are illegal and try to bring these products through illegal channels into Timor-Leste.” Said the spokeperson
These cigarettes are subject to taxes, and the revenue and high tax duties are significant for the Timor-Leste government. Therefore, the government needs to work hard to combat illegal activities so everyone complies with the law and pays taxes, considering cigarettes are a major source of tax revenue for Timor-Leste.
Reporting : Nélia
Photo : Estefania