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The Cuban Customs intercepted over 4,200 loose cigars, 15 boxes, and branches of cigars with various permits this Friday at the José Martí International Airport in Havana, on a flight destined for Panama.
The seizure was reported by Wiliam Pérez González, deputy chief of the Customs of Cuba, through his official account on X, where he posted photographs of the confiscated material piled on a customs inspection table, alongside packs of the brand Cohiba marked with a sign reading "EVIDENCE" and two open presentation boxes of the same brand.
"The administrative measures provided for in these offenses are applied, and the police are notified," the official wrote in his post.
The term "various authorizations" refers to the tobacco authentication elements—rings, seals, and holograms—whose irregular presence in the shipment indicates potential counterfeits or documentation lacking the necessary endorsements for legal export.
So far, the identities of those involved in the seizure and alleged trafficking of tobacco have not been disclosed.
The route to Panama is not coincidental: that country serves as a transit point to markets in Europe, Latin America, and the United States, making it one of the most used for smuggling Cuban cigars, which fetch significantly higher prices in the international black market compared to their official value on the Island.
Current regulations allow you to bring up to 50 cigars in original sealed packaging with the Habanos S.A. hologram without the need for an invoice; exceeding this limit without documentation constitutes a customs offense.
This operation is part of a series of seizures that Cuban Customs has intensified since mid-2025 under the "Safe Border" campaign.
On September 28, 2025, authorities seized more than 7,300 loose cigars and 64 boxes at the same airport.
In February 2026, Customs thwarted an attempt to smuggle over 3,800 cigars to Panama from the same terminal, while in the following March, a shipment of more than 370 boxes of counterfeit cigars was detected attempting to leave via the same route.
Other recent operations included the seizure of more than 4,400 counterfeit stamps of the Cohiba brand from the United States, and the discovery of 4,000 hidden licenses for Cuban brands concealed inside hollowed-out books.
The Cohiba brand, featured in the images from this Friday’s seizure, is the most imitated and counterfeited in the international cigar market, making it the primary target for both smugglers and counterfeiting networks operating inside and outside Cuba.
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