On Thursday, April 22, in Daugavpils, border guards detained members of an organized group engaged in the production of counterfeit cigarettes and seized more than 15 million cigarettes without excise stamps and 1.5 tons of shredded tobacco leaves.
On Thursday, in Ilukste Municipality, State Border Guard officials stopped a Daf brand truck, driven by a non-citizen of Latvia, on suspicion of illegal movement of cigarette production components or tobacco. As a result of the inspection of the truck, a load of raw materials, intended for the production of cigarettes, was found inside.
As a result of the criminal activities, carrying out within the criminal proceedings, border guards detained six Ukrainian citizens in an outbuilding in Daugavpils, who were engaged in the production of counterfeit Winston and Marlboro cigarettes, but during the search of the premises an illegal cigarette factory with production equipment and raw materials was uncovered.
Overall, within the criminal proceedings, the border guards removed 14 959 909 cigarettes “Winston” and 50 180 cigarettes “Marlboro” without excise stamps and about 1.5 tons of shredded tobacco leaves.
Criminal proceedings have been initiated pursuant to Article 221(3) of the Criminal Law (for llegal manufacture (production), storage, movement or disposal of tobacco products if it has been committed on a significant scale and if it has been committed by an organised group).