Customs officers in Limburg Province have set about dismantling the largest ever illegal cigarette factory to be discovered in Belgium. The illegal cigarette factory was located on the Kristalpark Industrial Estate in Lommel, in the north of Limburg Province. Before it was raided it produced cigarettes day and night. The Federal Finance Department ,of which the Customs and Excise Service is a part, says that the factory is the largest illegal cigarette production facility ever to be found in Belgium.
At around 5:30pm on Monday customs officers raided a warehouse on the Gerard Mercatorstraat in Lommel. There they found an illegal cigarette factory with no fewer than 4 production lines.
The Federal Finance Department’s Francis Adyns told VRT News that "The factory was operational day and night. Several tonnes of tobacco were found at the warehouse as well as quantities of fake cigarettes of various brands, including Marlboro, Rothmans and Winston, that were being stored there”.
"Outside the building in 2 lorries 30 million cigarettes were found. These amount to 14.4 million euro in evaded excise duty”.
Criminal organisation
51 people, mainly Ukrainian, Romanian and Moldovan nationals were found at the site."We are talking about a criminal organisation here and that is also the view of the prosecutor’s office”, Mr Adyns said.
"This makes it the largest illegal cigarette factory ever dismantled in Belgium, considering the high production capacity and number of workers we found there."
According to Mr Adyns, the criminals chose Lommel because of the good transport links. "We have a very good road network, which makes the markets in France and the UK easy to reach by ship or truck. We suspect that this is why the criminals choose to start production here in Belgium."
All the goods found were seized. The 51 workers found at the site will be questioned.