Joint operation by the Tax Agency and the National Police

• The organisation had four industrial buildings; one of them, located in Zaragoza, operated as a production centre, while the other three - located in Zaragoza, Guadalajara and Madrid - were used as secure warehouses.
• They had the machinery needed for the two complete stages of a tobacco factory, from the moment the leaf is received until the master or shipping boxes come out on pallets for sale.
• Officers have arrested 20 people, dismantling a perfectly organised and hierarchical criminal organisation, and as a result of the searches made they seized a large amount of material that would allow them to produce 2,000,000 packs of cigarettes.

March 12, 2022.- Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, in a joint operation with the National Police and the General Directorate for the Fight against Organized Crime of Bulgaria, has dismantled a clandestine cigarette 'macro-factory'. The organisation had four industrial buildings; one of them, located in Zaragoza, operated as the production centre, while the other three - located in Zaragoza, Guadalajara and Madrid - were used as secure warehouses.

They had the machinery needed to carry out the two complete stages of a tobacco factory, from the moment the leaf is received until the master or boxes come out on pallets for sale, and were able to produce 57,600 packs a day. The officers arrested 20 people, dismantling a perfectly organised and hierarchical criminal organisation, and as a result of the searches made they seized a large amount of material, which would allow them to produce 2,000,000 packs of cigarettes.

The investigations began thanks to the exchange of information between the National Police and the Bulgarian police authorities. Officers became aware of the existence in Spain of a criminal organisation, led by Bulgarian nationals and allegedly dedicated to smuggling prohibited goods.

After months of arduous investigations, the officers identified a large, perfectly organised and hierarchical criminal structure, which had at its disposal four industrial buildings - in the provinces of Zaragoza (2), Guadalajara and Madrid - which provided it with a great production capacity and security. In addition, the buildings were located in industrial parks with a high level of business activity, which allowed their illegal activities to go unnoticed.

One building as the production centre and three secure warehouses

As the investigation progressed, officers identified up to four buildings being used by the organisation to carry out its illicit activity. The first of these was a large industrial building - located on an industrial estate in Zaragoza - which the network used as the production centre for large quantities of packs of cigarettes. It was fully equipped and had a large number of specialised machines as well as different production areas.

In addition, the organisation had another warehouse in the same city, but on a different industrial estate, which was used to transfer the packs of cigarettes already produced to vans, for later distribution. This second warehouse was used as a secure space where the goods were left to 'cool' until they could be safely distributed, preventing any link from being established between the place from which the material was intended to be distributed and the production centre.

In addition, the network had rented another warehouse in Guadalajara in order to hide the vehicles used for distribution. Inside, they had a large trailer, as well as six rigid inflatable boats with wrappers of hashish residue. Lastly, on an industrial estate in Humanes (Madrid), they had a space for receiving all the raw materials - both the essential materials for manufacturing cigarettes and cigarette packs, and those needed for fitting out the production building. The existence of the latter building increased security and safeguarded the production site, from where the material was shipped, but not before many and varied security measures had been taken.

The police investigations also led to the identification of the members of the criminal network, some of whom spent the night inside the industrial warehouses in order to guard the materials inside them.

Capacity to produce 57,600 packs of cigarettes a day

The properties leased by the organisation - as well as its structure and hierarchy - reflected the economic potential of the organisation and the high degree of specialisation of both its members and its facilities.

The production plant in Zaragoza had facilities and materials capable of producing 57,600 packs of cigarettes a day. The officers identified the production manager, who turned out to be a Bulgarian national and was in charge of both the maintenance of the machinery and the fitting out of the warehouse. These duties fell to two individuals of Colombian origin, who were responsible for installing the machinery required for cigarette production and soundproofing the site.

The machinery installed was part of a production chain with two complete and perfectly differentiated phases, from the moment the tobacco leaf is received until the 'masters' or shipping boxes come out on pallets ready for sale. Firstly, they had machinery for cutting, chopping, drying and storing tobacco leaves. They also had the tools needed to manufacture packs of 20 cigarettes and packages with the silk-screen printing of a well-known brand. This allowed them to make up the packs, laminate them and group them ten by ten, to form cartons of cigarettes that were ready for subsequent distribution and sale.

The operation

At the beginning of 2022, once the organisation had completed the work of installing the machinery and fitting out the industrial premises, officers noted that those being investigated had travelled to Barcelona. There, they picked up eight people (seven Ukrainian nationals and one Bulgarian), who were part of the workforce needed for the production of the cigarettes, and took them directly to the production building in Zaragoza, where they remained until the business was operating.

Last February, it was noted that a large lorry - which was used exclusively for this type of transport - unloaded the raw materials needed for the production of cigarette packs and cigarettes at the production centre. Just eleven days later, the lorry returned to the warehouse, this time to move the material already manufactured to the secure warehouse located on another industrial estate in Zaragoza. After unloading the materials, officers saw that the lorry travelled to Madrid, to an industrial estate located in Humanes, where it reloaded the raw materials stored there, which were to be taken back to the production plant in Zaragoza.

Finally, in mid-February, the leaders of the organisation went to the secure warehouse in Zaragoza, where they loaded all the goods inside a new lorry, to be used for distribution. Officers carried out a police operation in which the vehicle was seized and more than 120,000 packs of cigarettes ready to be sold were found inside it.

Materials to produce two million packs

The valuation made, both of the machinery used and the materials seized, as well as the materials used to fit out the warehouses, shows the great economic capacity of the dismantled organisation.

In the searches carried out, officers seized 264,000 packs of cigarettes, valued at 1,320,000 euros, 1,680 kilos of cut tobacco, two lorries, six rigid inflatable boats without engines, and machinery valued at 1,500,000 euros, among other effects. With all the items seized, it is estimated that the organisation had the materials to produce a total of 2,000,000 packs of cigarettes. In addition, the financial damage to the Treasury, as a result of tax evasion, is valued at more than one million euros.