Latvia says it found 15 mln counterfeit cigarettes in a factory

Pictures released by Latvian border guards showed the cigarettes in packs with labels written in English, which could indicate they were produced for sale outside the country. Most of the cigarettes were in Winston-branded packs, with some in Marlboro-branded packs, the border guard said.

Latvia said on Thursday it closed down an illegal underground cigarette factory set up on a farm, arrested six Ukrainians who were running it, and seized 15 million counterfeit cigarettes. Pictures released by Latvian border guards showed the cigarettes in packs with labels written in English, which could indicate they were produced for sale outside the country.

Most of the cigarettes were in Winston-branded packs, with some in Marlboro-branded packs, the border guard said. The raid, which took place on April 22, also found 1.5 tonnes of fine-cut tobacco leaves, and pictures from the raid show stacks of cut paper set to be folded into cigarette packs.

Six workers trapped in squalid, airless conditions were found in February at a counterfeit tobacco factory hidden beneath a mountain village in Spain. A total of nearly 370 million illegal cigarettes were seized in 2020 in international operations involving the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).

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