Blondes’ mini-market discovered in Zen, Palermo: one arrest, 800 cigarette packets seized

Last Updated: March 13, 2024

Scoperto il «minimarket delle bionde» allo Zen di Palermo: un arresto, sequestrati 800 pacchetti di sigarette

In his apartment, he was selling contraband cigarettes: he had created a real mini-market, where those looking for cheap “blondes” would go. A forty-four-year-old man was arrested by the carabinieri of Zen, who found eight hundred packs, mainly from Eastern Europe, during a check in his home located in one of the pavilions of the neighborhood. The cigarettes were hidden inside a piece of furniture in the house, where numerous arrests for smuggling had already been carried out in the past. The search continued and the military discovered a room where the cigarettes were ready for sale. The man tried to escape by pushing the carabinieri, but he was caught and arrested on charges of smuggling and resistance. In January, the finance police seized two tons of cigarettes ready to be sold on the black market. They were found in two vans that were stopped on via Ernesto Basile during a check. Ten thousand packs were found with the Chesterfield and Merit brands. Their retail sale would have yielded revenues of around 350 thousand euros. The two drivers were arrested on the spot.

Zen, Brancaccio, Ballarò, and Sperone are just a few of the areas in Palermo where the phenomenon is still present. The repercussions on the state budget and at an international level are significant: according to the latest estimates from Olaf, the fiscal damage at the European level is around ten billion euros. For the state coffers, the loss is over seven hundred million euros.