Joint operation between the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard

• Three people have been arrested and another three investigated during the four searches carried out in industrial warehouses and warehouses in the municipality of Vélez-Málaga
• More than five tons of tobacco have been seized, as well as various machinery, vehicles and other items.
• The organization manufactured and marketed tobacco throughout Europe, with a potential production capacity of 250 kilos per day.

March 1, 2022.- Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency, in a joint operation with agents from the Civil Guard, have dismantled in the town of Vélez- Málaga the largest illegal hookah tobacco factory detected to date in Spain. In this operation, called 'Reveno-Glicerina', three people have been arrested and another three have been investigated as alleged members of a criminal group that distributed 'shisha' tobacco, or commonly known as 'hookah' tobacco, nationally and internationally.  It is estimated that the organization had a potential production capacity of 250 kilos per day. The detainees are charged with tobacco smuggling, industrial property, workers' rights, public health, membership in a criminal group and money laundering.

Investigations began in mid-2021, following a shipment of this product to France from somewhere in Vélez-Málaga. After numerous checks, investigators were able to identify the facility from which the shipment was made.

Segmentation of the activity into four ships

After close monitoring, investigators determined that there was a carefully planned production chain spread across four warehouses. In the first warehouse they received shipments of tobacco, which they hid with other materials such as clothing or sports shoes. The factory was installed in a second building, very close to the first, but there was not much tobacco work done.

A third warehouse was also found that served as a supplier of raw materials for production and even had a video surveillance system provided by the criminal group. Finally, in a fourth warehouse, the agents were able to dismantle the logistics centre, which served as a warehouse for both tobacco strips (cut and treated leaves), as well as semi-finished products, packaging and cardboard, as well as a warehouse for the finished product for marketing.

Searches and arrests

The surveillance carried out on those involved allowed investigators to intercept one of the shipments, which prompted the agents to act. At that time, four searches were carried out in industrial warehouses and warehouses in Vélez-Málaga, in which three people were arrested, two of Jordanian nationality and one Egyptian, thus being able to prove the 'economic footprint' of the illegal activity and dismantle the network with which the criminal group operated.

Among the various items seized from the criminal organization are a hookah tobacco factory (shredder, grinder, vats, etc.), 2,432 kilos of strips, 6,000 kilos of hookah tobacco of different brands and flavors, various materials used for packaging and storing tobacco, more than 51,000 labels of different products and brands in different languages, a van and three high-end vehicles. In addition to those arrested, three other people were investigated.

Investigators estimate that the organisation may have sold more than 65,000 kilos of this product, which is widely consumed in northern Europe, in the last year and whose market value could exceed three million euros.

The operation was carried out by officers from the Investigation Department of the Combined Unit of Malaga of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, as well as by agents of the Fiscal and Border Patrol of the Civil Guard of Algarrobo (Malaga).