The National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) raided a tobacco factory disguised as a warehouse in Debrecen, where they seized the most modern cigarette production line and 16 million illegally produced cigarettes.
The customs office told MTI on Saturday that the factory caused a significant financial loss, the value of the seized cigarettes is close to HUF 1 billion, and the machine lines are worth several billion HUF. Investigators detained five Ukrainian citizens, four men and one woman, and questioned them as suspects.
According to the information, the cigarettes were seized by NAV Merkur’s deployment unit before the final packaging. In the old, abandoned warehouse building, almost imperceptible from the outside, modern machine lines operated day and night on the outskirts of Debrecen. A professionally installed electrical network, hidden ventilation, light and sound insulation, and a uniquely designed aggregator operating in a separate room ensured unobtrusive production.
The insulation even shaded the phones. The well-equipped leisure rooms also made the plant suitable for lifestyle-style indoor living. A professionally equipped copy of a modern cigarette factory was operated, the authority wrote.
The action of the Directorate General of Crime of the NAV prevented the shipments from the cigarette factory from reaching the black market, as it curbed illegal cigarette production in just a few months.
The illegal factory was exposed with the joint work of more than a hundred detectives, patrolmen and commandos, NAV informed.
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