Joint operation of the Tax Agency and the National Police

• One of the warehouses was equipped to house the workers – including toilets, kitchen and sleeping quarters – in order to prevent them from going outside.
• In one of the searches, ten mobile phones were located arranged in airplane mode; This confirms that the workers, in addition to being isolated from the outside, were also deprived of communication to avoid their location.
• The production capacity of the factory, which had the necessary infrastructure to work day and night, allowed it to produce around 180,000 packs per day.

March 2, 2021.- Customs Surveillance Officials from the Tax Agency and agents from the National Police, in a joint operation, have dismantled two illegal factories intended for the clandestine production of cigarettes and sisha. One of the warehouses was equipped to house the workers - including toilets, kitchen and sleeping quarters - in order to prevent them from going outside. In one of the searches, ten mobile phones were located arranged in airplane mode; This confirms that the workers, in addition to being isolated from the outside, were also deprived of communication to avoid being located. The production capacity of the factory, which had the necessary infrastructure to work day and night, allowed it to produce around 180,000 packs per day.

The investigation began in November 2020, when the Bulgarian authorities alerted agents of the imminent arrival in Spain of a Bulgarian citizen with the aim of working in a clandestine tobacco factory in our country. Thanks to this information, a joint device between the Tax Agency and the National Police was established that culminated in the location of said individual in a residential area near the city of Valladolid.

Last January, investigators located two industrial warehouses in Fuensaldaña and a third in the San Cristóbal Industrial Estate, all of them in the province of Valladolid. Likewise, they observed that the investigated person contacted other people and how the mentioned places were frequently visited by them.

The workers were completely isolated from the outside and incommunicado to avoid their location.

Several efforts made it possible to detect sporadic entry and exit activity of large trucks unloading merchandise, as well as private vehicles, in the warehouse located in Fuensaldaña. In addition, the arrival of several individuals who entered the building and did not leave it was also confirmed, which showed that some activity was being carried out there.

For these reasons, last February an operation was carried out with the aim of inspecting the three industrial warehouses and the home investigated. As a result, investigators discovered that the warehouse located in Fuensaldaña hid a clandestine factory that contained all the machinery necessary for the complete production of tobacco - from the transformation of the leaf into bulk cutting to the packaging in the pack and its subsequent packaging. , as well as a large number of products for the production of cigarettes. They also observed that the warehouse was equipped for the complete accommodation of the workers - having toilets, a kitchen and sleeping quarters - in order to avoid any exit to the outside during the time they were in the factory.

On the other hand, the second warehouse registered (also in Fuensaldaña) was from an old facility that seemed to have housed an infrastructure similar to the previous one, although it was dismantled. In the third warehouse, located in the San Cristóbal Industrial Estate, they located another facility for the manufacture of tobacco intended to be consumed in sisha. Here they found a grinder for tobacco leaves, buckets full of tobacco in the fermentation process and various products for its preparation.

Finally, a search was carried out of a home in which a total of ten mobile phones arranged in airplane mode were intercepted, which confirmed that the workers, in addition to being completely isolated from the outside, were deprived of communication to avoid their location. .

Nine arrested and 35,000 euros in cash seized

In the last phase of the investigation, the agents arrested eight individuals of Ukrainian nationality, as well as the main investigator, a Bulgarian national, who has been placed in provisional detention. Seven of those arrested were located inside the warehouse used as a clandestine tobacco pack factory while they carried out said activity.

Likewise, the searches included numerous products and machinery intended for illicit activity - crushing machines, mixers, packaging machines, mechanical bulls and compressors, among others -, 35,000 euros in cash, 257,800 packs of cigarettes of a well-known brand and numerous documentation. . In addition, spray-painted sunglasses were located inside a van frequently used by those investigated. This shows the security measures that those investigated took to prevent the workers themselves from identifying the location of the ships.

The investigation has confirmed that the production capacity of the factory, given that it had the necessary infrastructure to work day and night for two work shifts, allowed it to produce around 180,000 packs per day.

Filming and photos of the operation (to download the content you must enter the following web address): https://we.tl/t-k4ChecLkEh