A man has been jailed for four months and ordered to pay a fine of €30,000 after his car was stopped by Belgian police with 84 cases of alcohol bought in Luxembourg.
The driver was stopped by a police patrol in February 2024 while driving on the E40 motorway, not far from Leuven. Officers had noticed that his rear light was broken, and that thick smoke was coming from the vehicle’s exhaust.
During the check, the police found that the man was in possession of an Indian driving licence which was not valid in Belgium, but that was not the only discovery made by officers.
More than 380 litres of alcohol was uncovered in his vehicle, with a haul including vodka, rum, gin and whisky - all of which are cheaper in the Grand Duchy than in neighbouring countries.
Having done his shopping in Luxembourg, the driver imported the bottles into Belgium without paying the necessary excise duties. With such a large quantity of alcohol, the defendant owed the Belgian state no less than €4,317.26.
Belgian customs allow private individuals to bring back a certain quantity of alcohol for 'personal use' from an EU member state without paying excise duty. In the case of spirits, this limit is set at 10 litres - a far cry from the 381 litres found in this case.
The man was found guilty in absentia by a magistrates court in the city of Leuven this week and sentenced to four months’ imprisonment and a hefty fine of €30,000, Belgian newspaper Nieuwsblad reported.