Police uncover organized crime ring counterfeiting cigarettes

The customs police have arrested ten members of an organized crime ring that had been dealing in counterfeit cigarettes since February of last year. The suspects are of Asian origin and are charged with smuggling tobacco leaves from Vietnam to the Czech Republic. The loss in tobacco taxes that the ring caused by selling counterfeit cigarettes is estimated at 150 million Czech crowns. Police also confiscated over fifty tons of tobacco leaves and other products for tobacco production.