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Three illegal tobacco factories with the capacity to produce more than 18,000 cigarettes per minute have been shut down

Operation of the Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police

  • More than 43 tons of tobacco leaves and cut tobacco, 1,443,000 packets and various machinery used to carry out the complete manufacturing and packaging process have been seized, with up to 14 different brands of counterfeit tobacco having been counted.

  • All these infrastructures dismantled in the provinces of Madrid, Murcia and Alicante belonged to a criminal organization of Bulgarian origin, which is considered dismantled in Spain after the arrest of 38 of its members.

  • The organization supplied both the national and international markets, for which it also had several warehouses to store raw materials and high-tonnage trailers loaded with the final product and parked in truck parking lots.

October 14, 2020 .- The Tax Agency, National Police and Civil Guard have dismantled three illegal tobacco factories located in the provinces of Murcia, Alicante and Madrid which, together, had a production capacity of around 18,000 cigarettes per minute. With this action, 23 illegal cigarette factories have now been deactivated in Spain.

Within the framework of the operation, called 'Centinela-Tervel', 38 people have been arrested, which means that the structure in Spain of a highly specialised organisation with great logistical capacity has been dismantled. Under the direction of Bulgarian citizens, it supplied the national and international black market with up to 14 different counterfeit brands.

43,160 kilos of chopped tobacco and 1,443,000 packets have also been seized, all with an estimated value of more than nine million euros, as well as the confiscation of six vehicles, a tractor unit, two trailer trucks and various machinery ready to carry out the complete manufacturing and packaging process.

The investigators' previous work, carried out over months, had revealed the existence of a series of clandestine facilities linked to a criminal organisation made up mainly of Bulgarian and Ukrainian citizens, several of whom had previous convictions for similar acts.

Along with the three factories, several 'security' warehouses have also been detected for storing goods and machinery until they are transferred to the production lines. A stable road transport structure has also been dismantled, both for raw materials to supply factories and for cigarette packs for distribution on the contraband market. To do this, the organization used heavy-duty trucks.

Given the high number of counterfeit cigarette brands, it is suspected that the organization manufactured on demand, producing both consumer brands in the national market, such as 'Fortuna', 'Winston', 'L&M' or 'Chesterfield', as well as other brands. consumption in markets of other EU countries.

Simultaneous dismantling

The operational phase of the operation was carried out simultaneously in the different manufacturing and storage centres at the end of last September 25, when the organisation was about to start production in the third of its factories, the one located in Albatera (Alicante).

In this industrial warehouse there were two cigarette production lines, fully installed for immediate operation, to the point that workers were already in the factory, with all the necessary elements to begin the illicit production of cigarettes and all the machinery installed.

In the Albatera warehouse, 11 people of Bulgarian (5), Ukrainian (5) and Russian (1) nationality were arrested, and the machinery, cardboard for packaging cigarettes of different brands, and various materials necessary for packaging, as well as 12,960 kilos of tobacco leaf and cut tobacco, in addition to several vehicles, were seized.

The other two factories were fully operational and had double production lines. In the one located in the town of Blanca (Murcia), 14 people were arrested (8 Bulgarian citizens and 6 Ukrainians) and 41,840 cigarette packs of various brands, 1,800 kilos of chopped tobacco leaves and various manufacturing materials and machinery were seized.

In turn, in the factory located in Villanueva de Perales (Madrid), another 12 people were arrested (4 of Bulgarian nationality and 8 of Ukrainian nationality) and 462,533 packets of already manufactured cigarettes, 4,900 kilos of chopped tobacco leaf and the corresponding manufacturing material and machinery were seized. Among those arrested are the leaders of the criminal organisation in Spain, with provisional imprisonment having been ordered for its three top leaders.

'Security' ships and warehouse trucks

A characteristic of this organization was its caution and ability to react to any eventuality from a logistical point of view. On the one hand, they had various warehouses that researchers call 'security warehouses', since their role was to store materials and raw materials until they needed to be transferred to the production line in the factories.

During the operation, three such vessels were registered in the towns of Illescas (Toledo) and Alcalá de Henares (Madrid). In Illescas, the person who controlled one of the ships, a Bulgarian citizen, was arrested and a large amount of manufacturing material, 4,800 kilos of tobacco leaves ('strips'), four vehicles and a trailer truck were seized. 439,290 packets of different brands were seized at the Alcalá de Henares warehouse.

But, in addition to these ships, the organization also used trailers for storing cigarettes and materials, trailers that were kept in public parking lots intended for the parking of trucks in general. In one of these car parks, located in the town of Móstoles (Madrid), 500,000 cigarette packs and 18,700 kilos of chopped tobacco leaves were seized, which were hidden in two trailers.

By dismantling the structure of this organisation and its illegal factories in Spain, significant financial damage to the Treasury is avoided, as is the unfair competition that illegal activity causes to legally established operators, as well as health damage to consumers, given the lack of control to which illegally produced cigarettes are subject.

The investigations, initiated under the auspices of the Elche Public Prosecutor's Office, are currently being conducted in the investigating courts of Orihuela (Alicante), Cieza (Murcia), Navalcarnero (Madrid) and Illescas (Toledo).

The Customs Surveillance Operations Subdirectorate (VA) of the Tax Agency and the regional areas of VA have participated in the investigation phase and subsequent operational exploitation. from Barcelona, Alicante, Murcia, Toledo and Madrid; the UDEV of the National Police and the UCO of the Civil Guard.

Images of the operation (to download the videos and photographs, enter the following web address):

https://we.tl/t-15SnMOIUhb