Italian police, acting on a request from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), have dismantled a clandestine cigarette factory in northern Italy capable of producing four million cigarettes a day, authorities said.
During the raid near Verona, which involved more than 70 officers, police arrested 13 people, including 11 Bulgarian and Ukrainian nationals found working inside and the facility's two Italian owners. The suspects face charges of smuggling and trademark counterfeiting.
Authorities confiscated the 2-million-euro facility along with 25 tonnes of illicit tobacco products. According to the EPPO, if the confiscated cigarettes had reached the black market, it would have resulted in an annual profit that would exceed 240 million euros ($275.5 million) as well as 3.9 million euro ($4.5 million) revenue loss for European Union and national budgets.
