In the Kyiv region, an underground shop for the production of cigarettes with a capacity of 40 thousand packs per day was exposed. During the searches, law enforcement officers seized raw materials and equipment worth two million hryvnias. This is reported by the police of the Kiev region in their Telegram channel, writes UNN.
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It is noted that the workshop was located on the territory of industrial bases in Brovary. The cost of the equipment itself for the underground production of cigarettes is more than one million hryvnias.
The organizers sold the manufactured products all over Ukraine, both with and without fake excise tax stamps.
"According to the results of authorized searches, a full-cycle line for the production of tobacco products, almost 700 kg of crushed tobacco, 1,335 units of cigarettes in bulk, 2,166 boxes for packing tobacco products, rolls of paper for making cigarettes were seized. The total value of the seized goods reaches two million hryvnias," the police said in a statement.
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Director of the Kiev Research Institute of forensic examinations Alexander Ruvin in an exclusive interview UNN stated that the joint interest of the state and legal producers should be in reducing the number of counterfeit tobacco products. At the same time, there should be a clear understanding that only irrefutable evidence from forensic experts makes it possible to bring malefactors to justice.
"It is the expert examination that is evidence in court, so this is a common task of both expert institutions and law enforcement agencies, all government departments involved. Of course, the processes are very complex, not all manufacturers are open to cooperation, and there are other difficulties. In Ukraine, there are major players – tobacco producers – these are large companies that are interested in ensuring that both the state and they themselves do not suffer losses from counterfeiting. After all, if there are fewer fakes, the manufacturer will sell more of its legal products, make a big profit and, accordingly, more taxes will go to the state budget. They are ready to provide all samples, open data, and cooperate in every possible way. However, there are cases where the opposite is true, and it is logical to assume that in those cases there are a lot of risks, we are talking about very large - scale losses for the state, which are measured in huge amounts," Ruvin said.