Luxury vehicles sent from the United Kingdom to Cyprus have been linked to a customs‑evasion scheme involving falsified documents and manipulated valuations, the newspaper Politis reported.
According to the report, cars worth more than €300,000 were shipped to Cyprus via Bulgaria and the Netherlands using forged paperwork and artificially low declared prices — in some cases listed at one‑twentieth of their real value.
Because the vehicles appeared to be entering Cyprus from EU member states, they were not subjected to customs duties or VAT.
The paper said authorities also discovered that vehicles older than five years, whose import from third countries is prohibited, were entering Cyprus after alterations were made to their documentation.
The Customs Department and the Ministry of Finance have reportedly informed the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) of the findings.
Over the past 16 months, more than 1,000 luxury cars falsely declared as EU‑origin but actually shipped from the UK are believed to have entered Cyprus, the report said.