Moldova: The Machine that Flooded UK with 7billion Fake Fags

Source from:  Scottish Sun (uk)  03/28/2013

A MACHINE used by crime gangs to flood Britain with up to SEVEN BILLION counterfeit fags has been seized in Eastern Europe.

Tobacco chiefs called it the biggest victory in a decade in the war on smuggled ciggies.

Detectives from Imperial Tobacco traced "Machine 18" to the tiny Moldovan breakaway state of Transnistria — dubbed the most lawless place in Europe.

Customs officials then pounced at a truck stop in Hungary as gangs tried to smuggle the Cold War era contraption into Bulgaria.

The rickety machine churned out fake copies of Imperial brands such as Regal and Superkings.

An Imperial spokesman told The Sun: "Each counterfeit cigarette has a 'fingerprint' which links it to a specific machine. We believe this one has pumped out between five to seven billion counterfeit cigarettes over the past ten years.

"We've had some big seizures in the past, but this beats them all."

Experts claim counterfeit fags make up as much as 15 per cent of Britain's cigarette trade — costing the Treasury £3billion a year.

Industry figures blame sky-high taxes on duty-paid ciggies.

Imperial believes there are 90 other machines used by gangs worldwide, but added: "With Border Agency staff stretched as they are, there's little we can do about it."  Enditem