Illegal cigarettes: European Public Prosecutor’s Office seizes large factory in Italy

Brussels – A total of 21.5 tonnes of illegal tobacco and cigarettes were ready to flood the Italian market, causing staggering economic damage: the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), in collaboration with the Italian Financial Police, has seized an illegal tobacco products factory in Padua. This is a “large-scale industrial plant,” capable of producing over 5.5 tonnes of cigarettes and 16 tonnes of tobacco. If the seized cigarettes had reached the market, according to EPPO, the estimated loss of VAT and excise duties would have amounted to over 1.3 million euros for national and EU budgets. 

The illegal factory, investigators say, was capable of generating an illicit profit of 350,000 euros per day, exceeding 120 million euros per year, causing an estimated loss to public finances of around 80 million euros. The cigarette factory under investigation and seized was equipped with all the machinery necessary to operate a high-capacity production line, producing cigarettes with a commercial value of 2 million euros per day. The site’s estimated value is over 1 million euros. 

In addition to tonnes of cigarettes and tobacco, officers found packaging materials bearing the logos of well-known tobacco brands inside the 5,000-square-metre industrial site, as well as a truck used to transport goods, which was also seized. 

This is not the first time that illegal cigarettes have been the focus of investigations and operations in Italy. In December, an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office led to the closure of two illegal factories in Pomezia, near Rome.