A businessman from Lanaken has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and slapped with a €13.3 million fine after an illegal cigarette manufacturing operation was discovered in a warehouse he had rented through one of his companies. The majority of the sentence and fine have been suspended.
The case, which has been ongoing since 2019, centers around a large-scale smuggling operation that involved counterfeit cigarettes being produced and exported between Belgium and Poland.
The investigation began when Polish authorities tipped off Belgian officials about a Polish gang involved in the illegal cigarette trade.
In the course of the investigation, Polish law enforcement arrested a man unloading fake Richmond cigarettes from a truck, discovering texts on his phone implicating a manager at a Lanaken-based company.
On November 25, 2019, Belgian authorities, in collaboration with the Federal Finance Ministry, raided a warehouse at Europapark in Lanaken.
They found evidence of a partially dismantled illegal cigarette factory, including machinery, counterfeit Marlboro packaging, boxes of cut tobacco, and even makeshift living quarters for the workers involved.
Authorities also seized 131,000 cigarettes that were ready to be shipped, as well as over 20 tonnes of processed tobacco that had been used to produce more than 20 million counterfeit cigarettes.
While two men, a Polish national and a Turkish national, had already been convicted in Poland for their roles in producing and smuggling the cigarettes, they will not face additional sentences in Belgium.
However, they are required to repay a significant amount of money, totaling €973,896 in evaded taxes and interest.
The businessman who was sentenced in Belgium, the son of one of the warehouse’s two company managers, was found guilty of knowing about the illicit activities taking place in the warehouse.
The court sentenced him to 18 months in prison and imposed a hefty fine of €13.3 million, which is five times the amount of taxes and energy fees that had been evaded through the operation.
While the fine was mostly suspended, the sentence sends a clear message regarding Belgium’s stance on illegal smuggling operations.
Two companies involved in the leasing of the warehouse also received fines totaling €120,000, a portion of which was suspended.
The court ruled that the companies were liable for the illegal activities that occurred under their watch, despite one of the managers being acquitted after proving he had no knowledge of the operation.
The authorities also seized all the tobacco, machines, and cigarettes found at the warehouse during the raid. Belgian officials are continuing to monitor the situation closely, signaling a crackdown on illegal cigarette manufacturing and smuggling operations in the country.
This case highlights the growing efforts by both Polish and Belgian authorities to combat organized crime and the illegal cigarette trade.
The operation was one of many raids coordinated across Europe aimed at disrupting criminal networks that deal in counterfeit goods, tax evasion, and smuggling.
With significant fines and prison sentences handed down, it marks a major victory for law enforcement in the fight against such activities.