Raid in Spain
Ukraine refugees exploited in illegal tobacco factories
01/22/2023, 7:19 p.m
In Spain, police arrest 27 members of a criminal network. The suspects produced and smuggled tobacco on a large scale. In illegal factories, Ukrainian refugees were also exploited as workers under inhumane conditions.
In Spain, police have dismantled a network that exploited Ukrainian refugees in illegal cigarette factories and smuggled large quantities of tobacco. In the course of the investigation, in which Europol was also involved, 27 people were arrested in different parts of Spain, according to the Guarda Civil. In addition, ten tons of tobacco leaves and 3.5 million cigarette packs with a total value of 37.5 million euros were confiscated.
Asylum seekers who had fled Ukraine because of the Russian war of aggression and who were “crammed together” in emergency shelters worked in the three tobacco factories operated illegally by the network. In order not to be discovered, they were not allowed to leave the factory premises and had to work extremely long hours, the police statement said.
The factories in the La Rioja region in the north, Seville and Valencia were equipped with “advanced technology” machines and could produce 540,000 packs of cigarettes per day. The cigarettes were therefore sold throughout Spain and abroad. The network’s leaders are said to have laundered money on a large scale and lived “a life of luxury” in the exclusive beach resort of Marbella on the Costa del Sol.