Police uncover 2 Illegal cigarette factories

Two illegal cigarette factories were discovered during a large scale operation on July 4 by the Bulgarian police in in the region of Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria. The tobacco for the cigarettes was prepared in the first factory, in the village of Razhevo Konare. The second one in the village Trud is where the cigarettes were made.

According to the Ministry of Interior, the losses from this production amount to 15-20 million BGN per month. The police arrested 11 people and seized ready production to the value of BGN 2 million. The detained workers are Moldovans and Ukrainians who lived in the factory itself..

The illegal cigarettes are from well-known brands. The factory was built a year ago with special soundproofing panels. It is equipped with a powerful electricity generator to avoid high electricity consumption.

Prime Minister Borissov said that the factory in Trud is the largest in the country. According to Deputy Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev, between 10% and 15% of the illegal cigarettes seized in the country were from the Trud factory.