A significant quantity of tobacco products was seized at the Deryneia crossing point by the Department of Customs, which, in a statement, referred to a “worrying increase” over the past two months in incidents involving Israeli nationals who are smuggling mainly tobacco products from the Turkish occupied areas with the intention of taking them to Israel.
The Department of Customs estimates that there may be a specific network supplying cigarettes from the occupied areas to Israel via the Republic of Cyprus, using the so-called “ant smuggling” method, which concerns illegally trafficking goods, such as cigarettes, drugs or cash, in small quantities, like worker ants, “making numerous consecutive journeys so as not to arouse suspicion and to remain below the authorities’ radar”.
Following the two major seizures carried out in February and November 2025, which initially revealed the operation of a network transporting tobacco products by boats and ships from the coast of Cyprus to the coast of Israel, it appears that the network has turned to “ant smuggling”, the statement said.
It said that “during June, confiscation of tobacco products at crossing points involving Israeli nationals accounted for 14% of the total number of seizures (41 out of 288), while accounting for 30% of all cigarette seizures (22,080 cigarettes out of a total of 72,620).”
In July, it said, “confiscations of tobacco products at crossing points involving Israeli nationals accounted for 24.5% of the total number (46 out of 188), while accounting for almost 50% of cigarette seizures (20,980 cigarettes out of a total of 42,050).”
Regarding the latest incident, the Department of Customs said that on 12 August, its officers, as part of routine checks carried out to enforce the Green Line Regulation at the Deryneia crossing point, stopped a Turkish Cypriot taxi transferring an Israeli national to Larnaca Airport.
“During a search of the Israeli passenger’s luggage, officers found 15 cartons containing 200 cigarettes each, as well as three one-kilogram packets of shisha tobacco. The products did not bear the health warning on the dangers of smoking in either Greek or Turkish, nor did they carry the required security feature and unique traceability code, indicating that they were duty-free and untaxed,” the Department said.
The tobacco products were confiscated and will undergo the prescribed destruction procedure. The individual involved was initially arrested for offences detected during the operation but was later released after his proposal for an out-of-court settlement was accepted, involving the payment of €2,000.
“Following the above seizure, the Department of Customs wishes to inform the public that, based on statistics kept on seizures at crossing points, a worrying upward trend has been observed over the past two months involving Israeli nationals who are smuggling mainly tobacco products from the occupied areas with the intention of transporting them to Israel,” the Department said.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term nears its end, announced he would convene another meeting in broader format, after adequate preparation, but gave no timeline. He secured to that end the consensus of both sides and of the guarantor powers. María Angela Holguín, Guterres’ Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties. Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto acts as the European Commission’s Special Representative for Cyprus, succeeding EU special envoy Johannes Hahn.