The officers of the Security Service of Ukraine detected and blocked the activity of the clandestine workshop of counterfeit tobacco excisable goods manufacture in Chernivtsi region.

According to the investigation, two residents of Chernivtsi city have set up illegal manufacture of cigarettes in a rented warehouse in one of the surrounding villages. According to the preliminary version, they have smuggled raw materials from Moldova. They delivered the finished products from a warehouse in Chernivtsi city in a retail chain of the region, as well as in Khmelnytskyi and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. A part of counterfeit products the dealers probably illegally transported to the European Union.

During the investigations at the place of counterfeit manufacture, as well as in the warehouse in the regional center the law enforcement officers found counterfeit cigarettes manufacture line, 7 tons of raw materials, more than 80 thousand packs of finished products, forged foreign excise marks, paper for the manufacture of cigarettes, packaging, draft records on the sale of counterfeit. The value of the seized products and equipment comprises almost UAH 6 million.  Within the framework of a criminal proceeding initiated under Part 1 Art. 199 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in order to identify all circumstances and other persons involved in illegal activity, the investigative actions are ongoing. The detection measures were conducted with the Department of Strategic Investigations and the National Police investigators under the procedural guidance of the regional Prosecutor's Office.