Officers from the Department for Combating Economic Crime of the Voivodeship Police Headquarters in Wrocław identified a location in Legnica County where excise-related crimes were being committed.
Officers from the Voivodeship Police Headquarters, working with police officers from Legnica, entered the aforementioned property. It turned out that an illegal sorting facility and warehouse for tobacco products and alcohol were operating there. The officers arrested two suspects—residents of Legnica aged 50 and 60.
Nearly half a ton of cut tobacco, more than 3,600 cigarettes (without brand markings or any excise stamps), and over a thousand bottles of alcohol of unknown origin were also found at the site.
Equipment used for sorting and packaging tobacco was also seized, including electronic scales, a fan, flavoring substances, a mixer, and cardboard cigarette packaging.
According to the police findings, the criminal group had created a network of locations where various stages of tobacco-leaf processing took place. Flavoring substances of unknown origin were added to the cut tobacco. The goods were then delivered to various recipients in Lower Silesia.
The alcohol seized at the site was labeled with stickers intended to suggest that the bottles contained chemical substances. (Several hundred such labels were intercepted.)
The arrested men had money from the illegal operation in their possession—over PLN 2,200. In their homes, officers found notes concerning recipients of the illegal goods and the proceeds.
Lower Silesian police officers:
The value of the losses suffered by the State Treasury due to unpaid excise duty was estimated at no less than PLN 416,000.
What are the penalties for excise-related crimes?
Both suspects may face up to three years in prison or a hefty fine—or both penalties combined.