Joint operation by the Tax Agency and Mossos d'Esquadra with the
collaboration of French Customs

• Seven people have been arrested and eleven others are under investigation for crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, smuggling, and offenses against industrial property.

• The network had perfumes from more than 50 luxury brands and forms , as well as raw materials to produce 150,000 liters of the various fragrances.

• They had seven manufacturing lines with a potential capacity estimated at four million bottles per year

• The economic value of the seized material amounts to more than 94 million euros, based on the price that the authentic products would have on the market.

February 17, 2026. Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency and Mossos d'Esquadra, with the collaboration of French Customs, have dismantled a criminal structure in Catalonia dedicated to the trafficking of counterfeit perfumes from Spain to France and the rest of Europe. The operation has led to the dismantling of what investigators consider to date to be the largest counterfeit perfume factory in Europe. As part of the actions carried out, a warehouse located in the La Selva region was raided, where Customs Surveillance agents located more than 850,000 perfumes and raw materials for the production of perfume. In addition, the Mossos d'Esquadra of the DIC located another warehouse in Arbúcies (Girona) with nearly 350,000 perfumes that functioned as the storage hub of the organization.

In total, 1,210,000 perfumes have been seized in the investigation, and seven people have been arrested and eleven are under investigation for crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, smuggling, and offenses against industrial property.

The investigation began at the beginning of October, as a result of international cooperation between Customs Surveillance and French Customs in the fight against the transnational trafficking of counterfeit products. Within this framework of collaboration, the exchange of information between the DNRED of the French Customs and the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency in Catalonia made it possible to detect the activities of a criminal organization dedicated to the counterfeiting of perfumes based in Spain. This organization transported large quantities of counterfeit perfume from a wide range of brands available on the market by road between Spain and several European countries.

First seizures

In mid-October, French Customs seized 2,600 bottles of counterfeit perfumes from various luxury brands. These perfumes were stored in boxes with the inscription 'très fragile' ('very fragile') and the loading location would have been Girona.

With these initial tests, Customs Surveillance officials in Girona located three warehouses in the La Selva region. After several months of surveillance, industrial activity was found linked to a commercial company registered as a 'perfumery and drugstore'. On January 27, vans with Romanian license plates were observed loading merchandise and leaving for France. French Customs intercepted and searched them, seizing 6,955 more bottles of counterfeit perfume.

A factory capable of producing more than four million bottles per year

The operation confirmed the illicit activity and, on January 28, a first inspection was carried out in two warehouses – which until then were only presumed to be simple wholesale warehouses – where a perfume factory was discovered. At that time, there were nine people working, of whom seven were arrested without documentation and the rest testified as being investigated.

The plant, located in two interconnected buildings, had seven production lines and 150,000 liters of product for the production of perfumes, with a potential capacity estimated at more than four million bottles per year.

Given this discovery and the magnitude of the case, a team of 30 Customs Surveillance officers from Girona and Barcelona had to be mobilized, who the next day went to the Fogars de la Selva industrial estate, where the warehouses were located, to carry out the judicial search.

The plant was organized into a bottling area, with seven machines; plugging area, with three machines; packaging area, with box making and bottle insertion; packaging area, with plastic film; and box printing area, with printing plates and logos from different brands.

The search yielded complete materials for production, such as bottles, caps, sprayers and boxes, as well as electronic alarm devices and price tags. At the company's registered registered address , located in one of these warehouses in Fogars de la Selva, there was an exhibition of more than 50 brands and forms from leading perfumery firms.

Regarding logistics, next to the building that functioned as a factory was the other building, used as a warehouse, with pallets of packaging material from different brands, caps and bottles, and 3,224 perfumes prepared for distribution.

All the seized merchandise was transferred to the judicial warehouse using three trucks.

After this search, the Customs Surveillance agents intervened in a third warehouse located in Sant Feliu de Buixalleu (Girona), which was part of the criminal plot. It was used as a warehouse and there were located 315 25-liter jugs and 100 100-liter drums with aromatic elixirs of different labeled fragrances, 119 1,000-liter tanks of denatured alcohol and 5,861 boxes with 872,850 33 ml bottles of perfume.

Road transport with trucks to France

Meanwhile, on February 6 and 7, the Mossos d'Esquadra detected three trucks that were trying to collect parcels without valid documentation. During the checks, approximately 10,000 allegedly counterfeit perfume containers and inconsistent delivery notes were found, referring to companies unrelated to the perfume industry. The drivers gave statements as witnesses and the merchandise was kept in custody at the Mossos d'Esquadra police station in Cerdanya. analysis of the documentation allowed us to identify a loading point in Arbúcies.

On February 8, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) from the DIC (Criminal Investigation Division) carried out a raid on the warehouse in Arbúcies, together with Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, where they seized nearly 350,000 perfumes in commercial packaging, logistical documentation (delivery note type lists and codes), packaging and labeling materials, and electronic devices. The ship functioned as the organization's international storage hub.

These actions confirmed the coincidence between the investigation carried out by Customs Surveillance and the findings of the Mossos d'Esquadra in Cerdanya and La Selva.

The investigation is still ongoing and further arrests are not ruled out. So far, eleven people have been investigated for the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, smuggling, and crimes against industrial property. The operation was led by the Court of Instruction of Arenys de Mar, with the participation of Customs Surveillance in Girona and Barcelona, ​​the Reaction and Intervention Group (GRI) of Customs Surveillance and the DNRED.