Belgian customs officials have seized over 307 million illegal cigarettes this year, according to the Federal Finance Public Service.
A new day of action against the production of contraband cigarettes, organised on Wednesday, resulted in the dismantling of a clandestine cigarette factory in Ghent’s harbour area.
About 10 million Marlboro cigarettes with English inscriptions were confiscated there, along with 2.4 tonnes of shredded tobacco and 50 pallets of tobacco precursors.
Seventeen people – 13 Ukrainians and 4 Armenians – were arrested during that operation.
Additional operations revealed a cutting workshop and tobacco drying site in Mol, where 5 tonnes of unprocessed tobacco and an equivalent amount of cut tobacco were confiscated.
In Mouscron, 5 million cigarettes were discovered in a warehouse.
In total, roughly 15 million cigarettes and 7.4 tonnes of shredded tobacco were confiscated during the day of action. Evaded duties (excise, special excise tax, and VAT) on these products amount to €8 million.
Six illegal cigarette production sites have been dismantled in Belgium so far this year, along with 11 warehouses and two cutting sites.
Total seizures for 2023 came up to 307,966,009 cigarettes, 79.5 tonnes of smoking tobacco, 26.1 tonnes of hookah tobacco, and 41.7 tonnes of raw tobacco, representing €153 million in evaded duties.
