Italian Police Raid Amazon Sites in Smuggling Probe Into Chinese Imports

Overview

• Officers seized about 5,000 items at Amazon’s Cividate al Piano logistics hub and took IT equipment from the company’s Milan offices.
• Police identified the Amazon manager responsible for goods transport within Italy during the Milan operation.
• Prosecutors allege Amazon functioned as a “Trojan horse,” with Chinese-made goods entering via undisclosed channels without VAT or customs duties before being sold on the marketplace.
• The case, led by Milan prosecutors with the Monza branch of the Guardia di Finanza, targets suspected smuggling and EU customs code violations by dozens of Italian firms believed to front for Chinese entities.
• Sources say as many as 500,000 products could be implicated, Eurojust and EPPO are engaged, and Amazon says it complies with tax laws while Italy’s tax agency has offered a settlement decision due in December.