Joint Action Day “Arktos 2”
20 January 2021 (updated 2 years, 8 months ago) // Published in printed Issue 4/2020 p 278
Riehle_Cornelia_Neu_SW.jpg Cornelia Riehle LL.M. / 2018-Max_Planck_Herr_Wahl_1355_black white_Zuschnitt.jpg Thomas Wahl

Between 16 and 25 November 2020, law enforcement authorities in the EU were able to seize, among others, 37 million illegal cigarettes, over 1.8 tons of tobacco and more than 3.5 thousand litres of illegal fuel. The seizures were carried out in the framework of the Joint Action Day “Arktos 2”, which was coordinated by Frontex and the Finnish and Latvian authorities at selected border crossing points at EU’s eastern land borders. The operation targeted excise fraud, particularly tobacco smuggling, document fraud and migrant smuggling. It was supported by OLAF, Eurojust, Europol, and Interpol and involved border guards, police and customs authorities from six EU Member States (Poland, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia). OLAF supported the operation by facilitating the exchange of information between the customs authorities involved and by lending investigative expertise. The operation was also designed to test the cooperation between different authorities involved in the fight against transnational crime under the EU’s EMPACT platform.

News Guide

EU Eurojust Europol Frontex OLAF Protection of Financial Interests

Authors

Riehle_Cornelia_Neu_SW.jpg
Cornelia Riehle LL.M.

Institution:
Academy of European Law (ERA)

Department:
Criminal Law

Position:
Deputy Head of Section


2018-Max_Planck_Herr_Wahl_1355_black white_Zuschnitt.jpg
Thomas Wahl

Institution:
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (MPI CSL)

Department:
Public Law Department

Position:
Senior Researcher