The Spanish Guardia Civil has seized 33,840 counterfeit Cuban cigars at a residence in Mislata, Valencia, eastern Spain, where the cigars were being fitted with counterfeit bands and packaged for distribution throughout Europe.
Three people have been arrested in the operation and are accused of smuggling, crimes against industrial property, membership in a criminal organization, and an offence against workers’ rights. Four other people are under investigation as part of the ongoing operation.
The Guardia Civil, the police force responsible for border control and combating smuggling, among other duties, detected this illegal activity by tracking a series of shipments of counterfeit Cuban cigars bearing different brand names but originating from the same location and destined for various European countries.
At the time of the raid, the Guardia Civil found 637,646 cigar bands of various Cuban brands and 27,852 unbanded cigars in the apartment in Mislata, along with packaging equipment. The smugglers received the unbanded cigars, which were not necessarily of Cuban origin, and prepared them for sale.
In total, four shipments were intercepted, resulting in the seizure of a total of 6,258 cigars, bringing the total number of counterfeit cigars confiscated by investigators to 33,840.
