French customs achieved an "exceptional" year 2022, marked by ever greater increases in seizures in the counterfeiting and tobacco trafficking sectors, according to a final report published Wednesday. The fight against tobacco smuggling resulted last year in a new record with 649.07 tons of tobacco and cigarettes seized, against 402 tons in 2021 (+61%), said the Ministry of Public Accounts, on which customs depend, in a statement. For the first time, five clandestine cigarette factories were dismantled in France in 2022.

Drug seizures edged down

In terms of the fight against counterfeiting, seizures increased by 27% in 2022 and doubled in two years: 11.53 million items were intercepted in 2022 compared to 9.1 million in 2021 and 5.6 million in 2020.

On the other hand, drug seizures have decreased slightly, although they remain at a fairly high level: 104.08 tons were seized last year (115.4 in 2021), of which 80% were seized across the France by all "law enforcement authorities". "This is an exceptional record (...) which shows that customs officers are becoming more efficient every year," said Gabriel Attal. The Minister of Public Accounts added "set as a priority" the fight against contraband tobacco, considering that the increase in seizures testifies to the effectiveness of customs officers but also "an increase in trafficking with criminal networks, mafia, which were previously on drug trafficking and have turned to tobacco trafficking".

Further increase in seizures of criminal assets

The Senate will examine from Wednesday a bill dedicated to customs which plans in particular to increase the penalties against those involved in tobacco trafficking. The year 2022 was also marked by a further increase in seizures of criminal assets with 175.5 million euros intercepted or seized by judicial customs officers (+40%), while 1,135 weapons were seized in 2022 against 805 in 2021 (+41%), mainly from collectors.

Our file on customs seizures

This refined and definitive assessment follows a first report published in February by the Ministry of Public Accounts.

The statement also said that the customs services were mobilized by the war in Ukraine, "four cargo ships, seven yachts and sailing ships and seven helicopters" belonging to sanctioned Russians having been immobilized by the coast guard, and "four works of art apprehended by customs".

  • Customs
  • Gabriel Attal
  • Drug
  • Seizure
  • Cigarette
  • Society