In a significant blow to organised crime and illicit trade, Italy’s financial police has uncovered one of Europe’s largest illegal cigarette production plants.
The operation, led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) office in Palermo, resulted in the discovery of a fully-equipped factory in Stornara, a town in the province of Foggia, with the capacity to produce up to 2 million cigarettes per day.
The illicit factory, estimated to be worth over €1.3 million, was uncovered on July 22 following coordinated searches across the southern Italian regions of Apulia and Sicily.
Officers from the Guardia di Finanza’s Palermo Provincial Command, supported by units in Bari and Foggia, executed the raids, targeting the logistics and supply networks underpinning the illegal cigarette operation.
The facility spanned over 3,000 square meters and included basement-level production areas.
Authorities discovered a staggering volume of contraband: 45 pallets of cigarettes weighing approximately 13 tonnes, 165 bags of shredded tobacco, and 134 pallets of precursors, including counterfeit packaging materials imitating major international brands such as Marlboro and Chesterfield.
Inside the factory, officers found ten individuals, all Bulgarian and Ukrainian citizens, living in makeshift accommodations.
They are suspected of being directly involved in illegally manufacturing and possessing smuggled tobacco products and trademark counterfeiting.
Additional materials connected to the same criminal network were seized at another site in Andria, further indicating the operation’s scale and sophistication.
#GdiF #Palermo e @EUProsecutor . Sequestrata una delle centrali di produzione clandestina di sigarette di maggiori dimensioni a livello europeo.#NoiconVoi pic.twitter.com/acwxsagadY
— Guardia di Finanza (@GDF) July 28, 2025
This discovery follows months of surveillance and investigative work initiated after the seizure of smuggled cigarettes in Palermo. Investigators painstakingly traced the illicit supply chain, overcoming advanced counter-surveillance measures the suspects deployed to evade detection.
According to estimates provided by the Guardia di Finanza, if the seized cigarettes had reached the market, the evaded VAT and excise duties would have deprived national and EU governments of over €3.2 million in tax revenue.
The plant had the potential to generate illicit profits of around €350,000 per day, equivalent to more than €120 million annually, causing an estimated €80 million in losses to public budgets.
Authorities emphasised all individuals involved are presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent court, in accordance with Italian and EU legal standards.
Italy is considered a high-tax country on tobacco within the European Union, with a complex tax structure designed to reduce consumption and generate revenue.
Illicit trade, including 1.4 billion counterfeit and contraband cigarettes in 2021 (2.2 per cent of the market), costs Italy €272 million annually in lost revenue, driven partly by the high taxes.
European countries have been struggling with illicit tobacco trade, but their own policies were making matters worse, a study has shown. https://t.co/xyInT9bwof
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 11, 2025
