A court has fined the captain of a merchant ship €600 for submitting a false declaration in administrative paperwork after customs officials discovered mastercases containing over three million contraband cigarettes. The MV Alice had docked in Malta on June 29, 2014, with its captain, Mario Cardona and four other crew members on board. A master case normally contains approximately 10,000 cigarettes in 500 packets of 20. Deciding the case, the court noted that it was accepted in practice that the IMO declaration is the responsibility of the captain or owner of the vessel. For this administrative failure, the court fined Cardona €600, of which €200 was to be paid immediately to the Director General of Customs.

Source: Libya Today May 20, 2022 12:27 UTC