FLASH NEWS
Container blocked at the Port of Durres mistakenly ends up in Piraeus, Customs clarifies the incident
2026-04-24 00:01:24 / AKTUALITET
The General Directorate of Customs has reacted to news that a container with goods blocked at the Port of Durres was mistakenly sent to the port of Piraeus.
According to Customs, during a check in Durrës, goods suspected of violating intellectual property rights were found and were blocked according to legal procedures, and were placed in a sealed container for storage and monitoring.
Subsequently, according to customs authorities, this container was moved from the monitoring area and loaded onto a ship, being registered as an empty container in the documentation.
The verifications have shown that the container ended up in the port of Piraeus, while it has now returned to the Port of Durres and it has been found that there are no changes in its sealing. The container will also be opened by customs investigation structures and the Durres Prosecutor's Office.
Reaction of the General Directorate of Customs:
Regarding media publications on the actions of customs structures at the Port of Durres, the General Directorate of Customs clarifies that, in fulfillment of the functional duties defined in the legal and sub-legal acts in force, a control was exercised, in cooperation with the Anti-Smuggling Group, in a container declared with a transit declaration. During the control, it was found that there were goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights.
In accordance with legal procedures, the goods were blocked until a final response was received, as to whether these goods infringed intellectual property rights or not.
Subsequently, an empty container for storing goods was made available, sealed and placed in the Monitoring Area. This container was then used to store two other seizures of goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights, according to the relevant minutes.
On 09.04.2026, after the customs structures completed the control of a transit declaration, where goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights were again found, it was decided that these goods would be deposited and blocked in this container, where the previous quantities were also deposited and blocked. During the inspection, it was noted that the container was not located in the Monitoring Zone.
The Customs Authority immediately contacted the Port Authority that manages the Container Terminal and from the information provided it resulted that the vehicle (container) had been loaded onto a container ship registered in the departure register as an empty container.
Subsequently, the representative of the maritime agency was contacted, who informed that the container was loaded onto the ship on 02.04.2026 as an empty container.
As soon as it was learned, the procedural investigation was initiated by the customs investigation structures and all documents of this procedure were administered.
The container has already been returned to the Port of Durres and preliminary verification has shown that there are no changes to its sealing. The container will be opened by customs investigation structures and the Durres Prosecutor's Office.
The General Directorate of Customs is fully committed to cooperating with all competent bodies for the legal clarification of the circumstances of the movement of goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights, blocked and sealed according to the relevant procedure. In addition to the actions of the prosecutor's office, the disciplinary responsibility of customs officers will also be assessed in each case.
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