Overview
- Late-March raids on six French warehouses uncovered 7,020 Chinese-made electric bicycles imported with forged documents.
- Customs estimate the operation recovered bikes representing about €6 million in evaded duties and taxes.
- Smugglers used shell companies and shifting storage sites across Europe to exploit anti-dumping and VAT loopholes.
- OLAF provided key intelligence that was shared with German, Dutch and Polish customs to identify additional storage locations.
- Authorities describe the case as emblematic of narcotrafficking-style networks and a milestone in EU-level fraud enforcement.