Border guards seize more than 15 million smuggled cigarettes

Latvian border guards detained members of an organized group engaged in the production of counterfeit cigarettes and seized more than 15 million cigarettes without excise stamps and 1.5 tons of fine-cut tobacco leaves.

As a result of the criminal investigation, border guards detained six Ukrainian citizens in a farm building in Daugavpils for the production of counterfeit Winston and Marlboro cigarettes, but during an search of the premises found an illegal cigarette factory with production equipment and raw materials.

In total, as part of the criminal proceedings, the border guards seized 14,959,909 Winston and 50,180 Marlboro cigarettes without excise stamps and about 1.5 tonnes of fine-cut tobacco.