Border guards in Lower Silesia seized illegal tobacco worth PLN 850,000 and a cigarette production line worth approx. The border guards seized illegal tobacco worth PLN 850 000 and a cigarette production line worth approximately PLN 30 000. The two men who manufactured the cigarettes were also detained.
A spokeswoman for the Commander of the Nadodrzanski Oddzial Strazy Granicznej (Nadodrzanski Border Guard Division), Major Joanna Konieczniak, announced on Tuesday that officers from the Nadodrzański Oddział Straży Granicznej had found a specialist production line for manufacturing cigarettes and dried tobacco worth 850 thousand zł waiting to be portioned out, in the district of Zgorzelec in Lower Silesia.
“Officers from the Border Guard Post in Tulice, assisted by officers from the Department of Security, entered the premises of one of the previously selected properties and secured a machine and knives for cutting tobacco, a tobacco dryer and 1.6 tonnes of dried tobacco. The value of the secured equipment and tobacco is PLN 880,000,” the spokeswoman said.
She added that two Poles aged 33 and 38 who were caught manufacturing cigarettes were also detained. The men were questioned as suspects. They face a hefty fine as well as imprisonment for the criminal offence.
“Since the beginning of this year, officers from the Border Guard Post in Tuplice have seized 13 tonnes of tobacco worth more than PLN 5.5 million. If the seized illegal goods had been sold on the black market, the State Treasury would have lost almost PLN 6 million in unpaid taxes,” said the spokesperson.