• A criminal organization that counterfeited cigarettes of the main tobacco brands and distributed them throughout the national territory has been dismantled

• More than a million tax seals from Spain, the US and Serbia have been seized

• The tobacco seized from this criminal organisation, once distributed, would have brought in a profit of more than one and a half million euros.

June 22, 2024.- Officials of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency and agents of the Civil Guard, within the framework of the 'Llanos de la Perdiz' operation, have dismantled a criminal organization that owned an illegal factory in the Juncaril industrial estate, in the municipality of Peligros (Granada), in which they falsified tobacco products of the main brands.

In this operation, three people have been arrested and two others investigated for alleged crimes of criminal organization, smuggling, industrial property, falsification of stamped instruments, falsification of private documents, usurpation of civil status and money laundering.

During the exploitation phase, 400 kilos of tobacco leaf and 1,000 kilos of cut tobacco, tens of thousands of counterfeit cartons of major brands, 18 industrial machines for the production and packaging of cigarettes and a large number of counterfeit tax seals from different countries were seized, including 1,078,000 from the United States, 25,800 from the Republic of Serbia and 20,000 from Spain. Various documents and 31,000 euros in cash were also seized.

The investigation has revealed the criminal organisation's ability to counterfeit cigarettes, which were distributed throughout the country. It is estimated that once distributed, they would have generated a profit of more than one and a half million euros.

Some 14 companies in the tobacco sector have been affected by these events. Investigators have contacted these companies to inform them of the operation and to ask them to participate in the legal proceedings.

The operation began to take shape in August 2023, after Civil Guard investigators received news of the possible existence of a factory in an industrial estate in the Metropolitan Area where tobacco products were falsified, subsequently coordinating with Customs Surveillance.

Parcel shipments in the name of fictitious companies

After much investigation, the factory was located in an industrial warehouse in the Juncaril de Peligros industrial estate and the responsibility of all those who made up this criminal organisation was gradually identified and determined, including the person responsible.

Once the latter was identified, investigators found out that this person was responsible for distributing counterfeit tobacco throughout Spain through a parcel company; that the shipments were made in the name of three fictitious companies and that over the last year he had sent more than 2,300 packages containing more than 6,700 kilos of counterfeit tobacco products.

Agents from the Combined Customs Surveillance Unit of the Granada Tax Agency and the Tax and Border Detachment of the Civil Guard of Santa Fe participated in this operation.