Swiss customs officials said on Thursday several people have been arrested and 50,000 cartons of contraband cigarettes seized in a joint sting with French customs officials that dismantled a smuggling ring.
“People working in the diplomatic sphere but not enjoying diplomatic status in Switzerland falsely obtained” documentation to assist in the cigarette smuggling ring, the Federal Customs Administration said in a statement.
Several people have been charged and will be prosecuted by both Swiss and French authorities, where relevant.
The smugglers evaded duties amounting to more than two million Swiss francs ($2.2 million), the statement added.
France has vowed to prevent a trade deal between the European Union and the South American Mercosur bloc from being signed with its current terms, as the country is rocked by farmer protests.
The trade deal, which would include agricultural powers Argentina and Brazil, is among a litany of complaints by farmers in France and elsewhere in Europe who have been blocking roads to demand better conditions for their sector.
They fear it would further depress their produce prices amid increased competition from exporting nations that are not bound by strict and costly EU environmental laws.
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“This Mercosur deal, as it stands, is not good for our farmers. It cannot be signed as is, it won’t be signed as is,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told broadcasters CNews and Europe 1.
The European Commission acknowledged on Tuesday that the conditions to conclude the deal with Mercosur, which also includes Paraguay and Uruguay, “are not quite there yet”.
The talks, however, are continuing, the commission said.
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President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France opposes the deal because it “doesn’t make Mercosur farmers and companies abide by the same rules as ours”.
The EU and the South American nations have been negotiating since 2000.
The contours of a deal were agreed in 2019, but a final version still needs to be ratified.
The accord aims to cut import tariffs on – mostly European – industrial and pharmaceutical goods, and on agricultural products.
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