EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Lithuania, Markets and Companies

A statement issued by OLAF in Brussels said the factory in the capital, Vilnius, was "capable of producing at least 1000 cigarettes a minute," and was manufacturing three different brands for sale in the European Union.

Nicholas Ilett, acting Director General of OLAF, said the number of illegal factories producing counterfeit cigarettes in the EU had risen dramatically over the last five years.

"Lithuanian customs and OLAF have cooperated closely in this investigation. This type of cooperation is essential if the criminal gangs responsible for defrauding European taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of euros are to be brought to justice," Ilett said.

News of the raid continued a good week for customs officials in the Baltic States.

Customs officials regularly detain car drivers attempting to smuggle cigarettes into the EU via Lithuania. On April 21 alone, three cars entering Lithuania from Belarus were found to be hiding thousands of cigarettes in false fuel tanks.

On the same day, law enforcement authorities in neighbouring Latvia revealed that they had seized more than 200 kilos of cocaine worth an estimated 26 million dollars from a container ship in Riga port.

That operation was liked to a January 20 raid in the Lithuanian port city of Klaipeda which in resulted in the seizure of 500 kilos of cocaine.