Overview

• Police found the plant beneath an apparently empty logistics center south of Rome with a concealed entrance, storage halls and living quarters for 18 workers.
• Officers seized more than 150 million cigarettes and about 300 tonnes of product along with packaging materials and industrial machinery.
• Production lines reportedly output more than seven million cigarettes per day, which authorities say makes it the biggest illegal factory ever discovered in Italy.
• One suspect was arrested, several others were reported to prosecutors, and assets worth more than €50 million were frozen.
• Authorities say the network moved the cigarettes within Italy and to other EU countries, generating an estimated €130 million in illicit revenue.