At the age of 51, a Russian driver was intercepted by the authorities on the A9 motorway, near Remoulins, while returning from Spain. He was smuggling a staggering quantity of more than 10 tonnes of tobacco , equivalent to 52,000 cartons of cigarettes . This discovery led to severe legal consequences: the Nîmes criminal court imposed an astronomical customs fine of 3.12 million euros on him. In addition to this financial penalty, the man was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment . To make his case worse, he was banned from French territory for a period of ten years following this serious offense.