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The Panevėžys Regional Court concluded a case by penal order, in which Janis Feldmanis, a citizen of the Republic of Latvia, was found guilty of illegal possession of high-value excise goods – contraband cigarettes not marked with Republic of Lithuania tax stamps.

Judge Valdas Meidus, having examined the statement of the prosecutor from the Šiauliai Regional Prosecutor's Office, imposed a 30,000 euro fine on J. Feldmanis and decided to recover from him slightly more than 4,000 euros, corresponding to the value of the vehicles used to commit the crime.

As established by the court, officers of the State Border Guard Service detained the Latvian citizen J. Feldmanis on October 14, 2025, in the Pasvalys district, Saločiai village, on the Panevėžys–Pasvalys–Riga road.

During the detention, 60,000 packs (600,000 units) of "Marlboro Gold" and "Winston Blue" contraband cigarettes, not marked with tax stamps of the pattern established by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, were found in the "Nissan Primastar" van and "Niewiadow" trailer driven by J. Feldmanis.

According to the Klaipėda Territorial Customs, the total value of these cigarettes, including mandatory taxes, reaches 313,403 EUR. This is more than 62 times the 900 MSL (45,000 EUR) threshold set for criminal liability.

J. Feldmanis essentially admitted his guilt and expressed remorse. He stated that he agreed to drive the van with the trailer from Bauska (Latvia) to a gas station in the Panevėžys district for a 50 EUR reward, without realizing he was transporting contraband.

The court stated that J. Feldmanis' guilt is proven by his own confession and other data collected in the case, including the detention and inspection protocols of the VSAT officers and the value of the goods determined by the Klaipėda Territorial Customs.

When imposing the sentence, the court took into account that the accused committed a serious, intentional, completed crime. The only mitigating circumstance is J. Feldmanis' confession and remorse.

Due to this mitigating circumstance, the sentence was reduced by one third, with the final judgment being a 30,000 EUR fine, which the accused will have to pay within one year.

Since the van and trailer used for transporting the contraband do not belong to J. Feldmanis, and their owners were not aware of the use of these vehicles for criminal activity, the court decided not to confiscate them, but to recover from J. Feldmanis a sum of money corresponding to the value of the vehicles – 4,187 EUR.

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