WARSAW: Polish police, border guards and customs officers have smashed an international criminal gang producing and smuggling tobacco products to EU countries.
Officers closed down two illegal cigarette factories and two plants handling cut tobacco, seizing goods worth PLN 40 million (EUR 9.3 million, USD 9.9 million).
Agnieszka Hamelusz, a spokeswoman for the Central Bureau of Police Investigation (CBŚP), said six people who worked on the production of cut tobacco have been detained.
They could face up to five years in prison. Hamelusz said more people could be detained.
“The criminals labelled tobacco products with the logos of well-known companies, but also created their own brands,” Hamelusz said, adding that the gang operated in the Lower Silesia region in southwest Poland and the Wielkopolska region in central-western Poland.
