Ninove (Belgium) (AFP) – The smell of tobacco hung thick in the air as dozens of customs officers on Wednesday raided an illicit cigarette factory in a warehouse in Belgium — a growing hub for counterfeit producers. Officers seized some 4.5 million cigarettes waiting on pallets at the facility near the town of Ninove in the centre of the country as they were waiting to be shipped out for sale on the black market. Eleven people were arrested on site—four Poles and seven Ukrainians—caught in bed around 6:00am local time in makeshift dormitories set up near the machinery.
The site was the twelfth such facility dismantled by authorities so far in 2026—which looks likely to be a record year for such discoveries by the Belgian authorities. While Poland remains Europe’s leading country for counterfeit cigarette production, Belgium has become a key base for traffickers looking to offload their low-cost products in markets such as Britain and France. “Belgium is attractive because it is a major transport hub and has plenty of warehouses close to the countries where the goods are sold,” customs spokeswoman Florence Angelici told AFP.
In 2025, some 200 million counterfeit cigarettes were seized in the country, representing 97 million euros ($113 million) in lost duties and taxes for the Belgian treasury, according to customs authorities. The illegal production of cigarettes is rising as a whole in the EU, as poor coordination between countries is helping counterfeiters thrive, an official report said on Tuesday. The black market costs the 27-nation bloc roughly 13 billion euros a year in lost revenue each year, the report by the European Court of Auditors said, with about one in 10 cigarettes smoked in the EU either smuggled or produced illegally.
“We are dealing with large-scale organised fraud spanning all of Europe,” a customs official said on condition of anonymity. Wednesday’s operation was coordinated by Europol, with an official from the European agency present at the scene. Customs officials said the site discovered in this industrial zone—tucked away at the far end of a discount store parking lot—was of “standard size.” It contained its own complete production line, including a drying turbine—but wasn’t as big as another recently dismantled facility that employed some 50 people.
At this stage, officials said it was difficult to identify the criminal network the suspects arrested at the facility were working for, or how long the machinery had been running. The warehouse lease agreement could help to provide investigators with clues on this matter. Officers said one of the major challenges for those running the illicit factories was keeping their noisy activities hidden from neighbours. The warehouse had been converted into a living space, complete with beds, washing facilities, a kitchen, and even a fitness area. However, there were no windows to let in natural light. “The goal is to ensure the neighbours have no idea what is going on inside,” Angelici said.
© 2024 AFP
