Lorraine Williamson
A major Guardia Civil operation has led to one of Spain’s biggest recent blows against counterfeit tobacco, with officers seizing more than 100 tonnes of product in various stages of production and arresting 20 people linked to an alleged criminal network operating from Catalonia.
The force said the organisation was involved in the manufacture, distribution and sale of fake tobacco nationwide, with possible international connections.
One of the biggest counterfeit tobacco seizures in Spain
According to the Guardia Civil, the haul ranks among the largest seizures of counterfeit tobacco in Spain in recent years. Most of the cigarettes were fake Marlboro products, and the force said Philip Morris International assisted investigators on technical aspects linked to identifying the counterfeit goods and estimating the group’s production.
The operation, named Yankao-Mikao, centred on an industrial and logistics network spread across Girona and Barcelona province locations. Searches were carried out at industrial units, a home and a garage in Lloret de Mar, Vidreres, Granollers, Piera and Mollet del Vallès.
Industrial-scale production lines were still running
The scale of the alleged operation is what makes this case stand out. Guardia Civil said officers found 29,600 kilos of tobacco leaf, 72,800 kilos of loose tobacco, almost seven million printed sheets for cigarette packs, more than 1,000 boxes of filters, packaging and labelling materials, 129 drums of glue, industrial machinery, electronic devices and documentation. It also seized 384,000 packs of counterfeit cigarettes ready for distribution.
Investigators said the factory lines were still active when officers moved in. The estimated daily capacity was between 850,000 and 900,000 cigarettes, or about 45,000 packs a day, with machinery valued at around €500,000. The Guardia Civil said the tobacco leaf and loose tobacco seized were worth more than €10 million.
Labour exploitation allegations add another dimension
The case is not only being presented as a fraud and smuggling investigation. During the search of an industrial unit in Granollers, officers found 11 workers who were allegedly in Spain irregularly and who, the Guardia Civil said, may have been subjected to labour exploitation by those running the operation.
Those 11 people were reportedly investigated over offences linked to the tobacco counterfeiting case and later released, with judicial authorities informed of their situation. The other nine detainees, aged between 21 and 73, are alleged to have committed offences including smuggling, public health crimes, membership of a criminal organisation, industrial property offences, tax offences and violations of workers’ rights. The court ordered four of them into pretrial detention.
A Catalonia case with wider national and international reach
Although the searches were concentrated in Catalonia, the Guardia Civil said the network had activity at national level and possible international ramifications. The force also said the logistics structure had the capacity to produce up to 900,000 cigarettes a day for distribution to different European countries, underlining the wider market the organisation was allegedly targeting.
The investigation is being led by the Judicial Police unit of the Girona Guardia Civil command under the supervision of Court of Instruction No. 1 of Igualada, with support from Europol, the Guardia Civil’s UCO Economic and Anti-Corruption Investigation Department, and the Catalonia regional judicial police unit. Officers say the investigation remains open as they seek to identify the full structure of the group and any further national or international links.
Why the case matters
Counterfeit tobacco cases of this size do not only point to lost tax revenue. They also expose the industrial scale on which organised criminal groups can operate, using warehouses, specialist machinery and packaging chains that closely mimic legal production. In this case, the alleged exploitation of irregular workers gives the operation a broader social and criminal dimension beyond fake cigarettes alone. That is what makes the Catalonia raids more than a routine seizure. The Guardia Civil is presenting them as one of the biggest recent hits against this kind of fraud in Spain.
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