Counterfeit Western cigarettes found at Russian tobacco factory

On August 1, FSB and Federal Tax Service officers conducted searches at the Kaluga Tobacco Factory (KTF), as well as at warehouses and offices of its dependent companies. During the search, several million packs of counterfeit cigarettes of the Marlboro, Kent, Rothmans and Korona Kalipso brands were discovered, which were produced at the factory under the guise of genuine ones. This was reported by RBC, citing its sources.

In total, law enforcement officers seized 6.2 million packs of counterfeit cigarettes, about 300 thousand counterfeit Belarusian excise stamps and 500 thousand counterfeit Russian stamps. The total value of the counterfeit cigarettes was about 800 million rubles.

The company OOO KTF was registered in 2017. It produces cigarettes of the following brands: G Armani Style, Uberto Gucci, Faraon, Argument, Titan, Laser and others. In 2019, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Trading House Kremlin of the Presidential Property Management Department purchased cigarettes from KTF for 19 million rubles.