13 people have been arrested following the discovery of an illegal cigarette factory in Saintes, a small village in Walloon Brabant.
The Finance Ministry announced the arrests on Thursday. On Wednesday, customs officials conducted operations targeting illegal cigarette production and inspected four sites in Wallonia suspected of illegal activities.
The operation resulted in the seizure of 30 tonnes of cut tobacco, 10,000 e-cigarettes, precursor materials and the arrest of 13 suspects.
The cigarette factory in Saintes contained a production line and a tobacco-cutting machine. Authorities seized eight million Marlboro cigarettes and 30 tonnes of cut tobacco from this site.
The evasion of excise duties, special excise duties, and VAT for the seized cigarettes amounts to over €3.8 million, and over €9.7 million for the cut tobacco.
The production site included accommodation for workers. Seven Ukrainian suspects, four Moldovan suspects and two Greek suspects were arrested and detained for questioning.
200 million cigarettes
Storage warehouses were also discovered in Ransart (Charleroi), Tamines, and Mornimont (Namur province).
Earlier in the week, authorities raided a warehouse in Lierde, East Flanders. They confiscated a drying drum, two tobacco-cutting machines, raw tobacco and 10,000 e-cigarettes.
Dutch customs seized two lorry trailers containing production machines in the Netherlands around the same time.
Nearly 200 million cigarettes have been seized, and nine production sites dismantled by Belgian customs in 2024.
