In the Belotserkovsky district of Kyiv region, law enforcement officers exposed the underground production of cigarettes, which produced up to 60 thousand packs of tobacco daily. According to preliminary estimates, the monthly profit from illegal business reached 60 million hryvnias.
This was reported in the National Police.
Illegal production operated in the rented premises in the territory of Kyiv region. Residents of Kyiv and Cherkasy regions are involved in the organization of the scheme. The implementation of counterfeit products was carried out both by wholesale and retail batches throughout Ukraine. Some of the cigarettes were sold through Telegram channels.
Thousands of packs of illegal cigarettes, which did not pass any control and had no appropriate excise duty brands, left the premises every day.
In the course of special operation, employees of the Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police together with detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security were removed:
-
A complete set of cigarette production equipment;
-
115 thousand packs of finished products;
-
More than 2 tons of tobacco;
-
160 rolls of packaging material;
-
Three pallets with counterfeit cigarettes;
-
Trucks used for transportation.
According to law enforcement, more than 1.5 million packs of cigarettes could be made from the seized materials. The probable income from this is about UAH 40 million.
At the same time, the state did not receive about 12 million hryvnias in the form of unpaid taxes a month.
Criminal proceedings were opened under Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - illegal production and sale of excise goods. The procedural guidance in the case is carried out by the Office of the Prosecutor General. The investigation is ongoing, a number of persons involved in the organization of production and sale of illegal tobacco products is established.
