Buried 40 Feet Under: Police Uncover Massive Counterfeit Cigarette Factory, Generating a Staggering $800,000 Weekly Profit

Spanish police have busted an illegal underground cigarette factory, buried four meters deep and hidden inside a fortified bunker. The facility was fully equipped with modern machinery and had a production capacity of up to 500,000 cigarettes per day. In a joint operation by Europol and the Guardia Civil, 20 suspects were arrested, and millions of finished and raw cigarettes were seized.

According to authorities, the site had a complete production line for manufacturing and packaging counterfeit cigarettes. This is the first underground factory of its kind to be discovered in the European Union.

Police also discovered underground sleeping quarters for workers. The workers were forced to labor in extremely hazardous and toxic conditions, locked underground, and prohibited from leaving the premises or contacting the outside world. Their movements were restricted, and in similar cases, workers have been blindfolded when entering and exiting the facility to keep its location a secret.

Despite being paid, the workers were often isolated, unable to leave the premises or communicate with the outside world. Some sites are completely sealed to prevent escape. These illegal operations are estimated to have generated approximately €625,000 per week for criminal organizations (over 19 billion VND/week).

The cigarettes produced in this underground factory were made from inferior materials and under unsanitary conditions. They were then sold on the European black market, which consumed an estimated 46.3 billion contraband cigarettes in 2018. According to studies, this illicit tobacco trade costs EU governments around €10 billion annually in lost tax revenue.