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03/02/2026   European Public Prosecutor's Office News

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Press release

Italy: EPPO seizes clandestine cigarette factory and 21.5 tonnes of tobacco and cigarettes (Luxembourg, 3 February 2026) – At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo (Italy), the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) of Palermo and Padova seized a large-scale industrial plant for the manufacture of cigarettes, as well as 5.5 tonnes of cigarettes and 16 tonnes of tobacco, in the province of Padova. The cigarette factory was equipped with all the necessary machinery to operate a high-capacity production line, producing up to €2 million cigarettes per day. The estimated value of the site is over €1 million. In addition to the tonnes of cigarettes and tobacco, officers found inside the 5000 m² industrial site 14 pallets of precursors, including packaging materials bearing logos of well-known tobacco brands, and seized a truck used for the transport of the goods, too. Upon entry, three Moldovan nationals were found inside the factory and were reported to the national authorities for the crimes of possession of smuggled processed tobacco and trademark counterfeiting. The discovery follows several months of investigative work. Through months of surveillance, investigators were able to trace the supply chain and identify the production sites, despite the sophisticated counter-surveillance measures used by the suspects.   more   Press release Investigation Nimmersatt: second wave of arrests and searches in Lithuania in probe against criminal organisation smuggling hazardous salvage cars from US (Luxembourg, 2 February 2026) – At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Vilnius (Lithuania), officers from Lithuania’s Financial crime investigation service (Finansinių nusikaltimų tyrimo tarnyba – FNTT), investigators from Germany’s Tax Investigation Office (Steuerfahndung) in Dresden and Europol carried out over 40 searches in different cities in Lithuania. This is the second wave of investigative measures in a probe into a criminal organisation importing salvage cars from the United States (US) and reselling them after cosmetic repair, while evading custom duties and VAT. The investigation, code-named ‘Nimmersatt’, extends from the US to Russia, with links to Canada, Hungary, Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK), as well as 12 EU countries of the EPPO zone: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain. At issue is a vast criminal network active in smuggling badly damaged cars from the US into the EU, and selling them to end customers after superficial repair, while defrauding the payment of customs duties and committing large-scale VAT fraud. The cars also pose serious dangers to the safety of European consumers, who unknowingly buy hazardous vehicles for a high price. As previously reported, a first series of searches and arrests took place in April 2025, when the main ringleaders of the criminal organisation and the directors of the companies involved were arrested. A large amount of information was seized then and new perpetrators in this criminal group were identified, which has now led to the present arrests. This Wednesday, five additional suspects were arrested in the region of Klaipeda and 25 individuals detained for questioning, acting as private individuals, in Lithuania. This provision allows resellers to pay VAT only on their profit margin (the difference between the price paid for the item and the price for which it is sold), when selling second-hand goods bought from private individuals. In this way, they acquired cars without registering them in their own names and resold the cars without paying any taxes, remaining entirely submerged in the illegal car resale business. Over the past five years, some of these suspected car dealers are believed to have ordered vehicles for resale for €45 million.   more

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