Overview
- Customs investigators and public prosecutors carried out a coordinated raid that uncovered a professionally converted production hall with a full cigarette production line and falsified outer packaging.
- Authorities arrested 21 people and placed them in pretrial custody on suspicion of organised large-scale tax evasion and commercial organised tax fencing.
- Investigators seized more than eleven tonnes of fine-cut tobacco, about eleven million finished cigarettes, production equipment, analogue and digital records, vehicles and more than €50,000 in cash.
- Prosecutors estimate roughly €28 million in unpaid taxes so far and are investigating a wider claim that the operation may have produced up to about 130 million untaxed cigarettes since first tips; that larger figure is still being verified.
- Officials say the case highlights how high tobacco taxes and steady demand for cheaper products can drive organised counterfeit networks that cost public revenue, infringe trademarks and pose health risks, and they warn further searches and prosecutions are likely as evidence is analysed.