A consignment of 11 million contraband cigarettes has been found in a container from China that arrived in the northern German port of Hamburg, customs officials said Friday. The find was the largest of its kind so far this year. The consignment was found on March 6 when the container was being transferred, dpa reported. Customs officials believe the consignment was destined for the Netherlands or Belgium. They did not reveal the brand names on the cigarettes. Sabine Heise, head of the Hamburg customs investigation department, said cigarette smugglers were becoming increasingly bold and were now using extra-large containers to cut costs. Heise said that inside the container no attempt had been made to conceal the nature of the cargo, which was billed as sleeping bags. She put the excise duty that the smugglers were seeking to evade at close to 2 million euros (2.6 million dollars).
