Romania’s anti-organized crime prosecutors earlier this week held 26 people, 18 of whom were border policemen at the Stamora-Moravita border crossing between Romania and Serbia.

The men were charged with setting up an organized crime group, contraband, and bribery, as well as aiding migrant traffickers move people between Serbia and Romania. Moreover, the policemen apparently allowed several wanted criminals pass the border, according to DIICOT representatives quoted by local news site tion.ro.

However, their main activity was helping various cigarette smuggling groups, an activity for which the policemen would get paid usually EUR 1 for each carton of cigarettes.

The border officers also demanded money from anyone who crossed the border to close their eyes on small irregularities and when they found none they would still ask for money claiming that it was “a tradition” the travelers had to respect, according to the same sources.

The Timis Court approved on Wednesday, June 1, the prosecutors’ request to arrest 17 of the suspects.

The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) also busted a big group of corrupt border policemen in 2010, some of whom also worked at the Stamora-Moravita border crossing. Romania's borders with Serbia, Ukraine, and Moldova are the hot spots for cigarette smuggling.

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Border Police officers in Romania placed under arrest

editor@romania-insider.com