Spanish police announced on Sunday January 22 that they had dismantled a network managing three tobacco factories in which Ukrainians who fled to Spain after the Russian invasion worked, “crammed” in makeshift accommodation.
The network is accused of smuggling on “large quantities” of tobacco that he transformed into counterfeit cigarettes sold throughout Spain as well as in neighboring countries, explains the Spanish Civil Guard in a press release.
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Twenty-seven people have been arrested in Spain as part of the investigation carried out with the help of the European police agency Europol. At the same time, ten tons of tobacco leaves and 3.5 million packets of cigarettes with a total value of 37.5 million euros were seized.
Up to 540,000 packs of cigarettes produced per day
The three factories, located in the wine region of La Rioja (North), Seville (South) and Valencia (East), were equipped with machines of “advanced technology” and could produce 540,000 packs of cigarettes per day, according to the statement.
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The network employed Ukrainians who came to Spain irregularly or who arrived as asylum seekers after the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. These Ukrainians lived in the factories, “crammed into prefabs and unable to get out of the facilities so they can’t be spotted, working long hours”continues the press release.
The heads of the network carried out the “large amounts of money laundering” and led “a life of luxury” in the posh tourist resort of Marbella on the Costa del Sol (South), he adds.
