ARCHIVED - 2.17 million euros’ worth of counterfeit branded cigarettes seized in Cordoba, Andalusia
‘Operation Sanforo’ remains open and further arrests have not been ruled out, Córdoba police have said.
A man has been arrested and 494,500 packets of counterfeit branded tobacco seized by the Guardia Civil in Córdoba city.
The police force’s Organised Crime and Anti-Drug Team (EDOA) had been on the scent of a group distributing large amounts of counterfeit branded tobacco in the area since the beginning of this year. Investigations led them to suspect that a warehouse on an industrial estate in the provincial capital city of Córdoba was being used to receive and store the goods before they were distributed to smaller-scale logistics centres.
When officers spotted a lorry being unloaded with the people involved acting suspiciously and taking extreme precautions, they suspected that they were up to no good and took the opportunity to inspect the premises. Searches revealed 33 pallets of counterfeit tobacco of two well-known brands, with a market value of 2,178,900 euros.
The man caught inside the warehouse, who is from Santaella (Córdoba), faces charges for alleged smuggling and offences against industrial property; unfortunately for him, his potential profit will all go up in smoke as the seized goods will all be incinerated.
Cigarette smuggling and the sale of counterfeit branded tobacco present a never-ending challenge for police forces in the region, with boatloads of genuine branded cigarettes being smuggled into the region by boat and large-scale operations such as this one.