Searches in Bucharest and three counties for the sale of fruit with false provenance and tax evasion
On Thursday, February 12, 2026, the police officers of the General Directorate of Police of the City of Bucharest – the Economic Crime Investigation Service executed eight home search warrants in the city of Bucharest and in the counties of Ilfov and Ialomița, in a criminal file regarding the crimes of tax evasion, forgery or substitution of food or other products and forgery of documents under private signature, according to the official statement of the police.
Eight home search warrants in the municipality of Bucharest, Ilfov, Ialomița. PHOTO: Archive
“The home search is a procedure in the criminal process regulated by the Code of Criminal Procedure, which aims to administer the evidence necessary to solve the case, which cannot, under any circumstances, defeat the principle of the presumption of innocence”states the quoted source.
Fruit imported from Egypt, mislabelled
From the data and evidence administered in the case, it was reasonable to assume that the suspects, as representatives of a commercial company, would have offered for sale approximately 12,400 kg of oranges imported from Egypt, products whose provenance data would have been falsified, by replacing the packaging and labels, so that the country of origin was changed from Egypt to Greece.
The substitution of goods would have pursued two purposes: “on the one hand, in order to hide the high content of pesticides, well above the maximum limit allowed by legal norms, and on the other hand, so that they can be sold to the population”. The products were offered for consumption through a chain of hypermarkets, and the revenues obtained were not recorded in the company's accounting records.
Taking evidence and hearings
During the investigation, several items of interest were identified and seized, and 12 people – two suspects and ten witnesses – are to be taken to hearings, for the disposition of the necessary legal measures.
Police say investigations are ongoing “under the supervision of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bucharest Court, under the aspect of committing the crimes of tax evasion, falsification or substitution of food or other products and forgery in documents under private signature”.
