Overview
- Police from the Section de recherches de Lille arrested four people during a judicial operation Tuesday, and three were later placed under formal investigation as the presumed ringleader and two resellers.
- Investigators traced roughly 120 convoys from Belgium to the Lille area since December 2025, with each trip carrying about 7,500 packs and an estimated total market value near €12 million.
- Searches turned up 600 cartons of counterfeit cigarettes imitating Marlboro, €223,500 in cash, about 1 kilogram of cannabis and 400 grams of cocaine.
- The counterfeit packs were sold in neutral-style packets and marketed on social networks such as Snapchat, an approach that helped the network distribute large volumes locally.
- Authorities opened an incidental probe for aggravated money laundering and concealed work, and industry and police warnings point to Belgium as a major production source for fake cigarettes and to a wider illicit market in France.