The town of Szarvaszó/Sarasău descended into the “Wild East” when the border guards for Máramaros/Maramureș County found themselves facing a couple of determined cigarette smugglers in a scene that could have been taken straight out of a movie; the situation quickly escalated into a shooting that left one of the smugglers wounded.
While patrolling near the Lake Firiza Dam, the border guards’ attention was caught by two jeeps on a forest road.
When the guards approached the jeeps and asked why they were there, very close to the Ukrainian border, the cigarette smugglers decided they did not want to have a conversation, stepped on the gas, and raced toward the guards.
According to the border guards, it was obvious that they wanted to run them over, and the smugglers did not stop after repeated warnings, so they fired shots – at first only into the air. This failed to stop the jeeps, so the guards then tried to shoot their tires, but the two cars got away.
The border guards then pursued them and managed to stop one of the vehicles. They found that the driver had been wounded in the leg during the shooting, so he was taken to the hospital. Two men in the other car were also caught near the city entrance of Nagybánya/Baia-Mare. But none of these weren’t the big fish.
After a search in the area, police also found a van full of cigarette boxes. Another two men were also in the vehicle and were taken into custody; criminal proceedings were initiated against all of the smugglers.
Featured photo: Főtér.ro
