Twenty-two people have been arrested in connection with the operation in Spain of three factories manufacturing illicit cigarettes, according to a story in the Sofia Globe.
The arrests, which were announced by law enforcement authorities in Madrid and Sofia, comprised 20 Bulgarian and two Spanish citizens.
The cigarettes were being made for sale in EU countries, mainly Belgium, France and the UK.
The head of Bulgaria’s chief directorate for combating organized crime, Ivailo Spiridonov, said that two of the illicit factories used Bulgarian equipment and that the workers were former employees of cigarette production plants in Plovdiv, Haskovo, Pazardzhik and Pleven.
The factories were near Malaga, Salamanca and Toledo, in locations close to motorways that enabled the rapid distribution of their goods.
Spiridonov said that the first information about the illicit factories was received in August 2015 when Bulgarian police had begun to track the movement of workers from Bulgaria to the factories.
The factory in Toledo had been soundproofed and filters had been installed so that the tobacco could not be smelt in the surrounding area. In addition, workers lived in the complex and were not allowed to leave, to maintain the security of the illegal operation.