Officers from the organised crime directorate (GDBOP) and the Blagoevgrad regional police directorate (ODMVR) shut down an illegal cigarette factory in the village of Riltsi on the afternoon of Tuesday, 3 November. Three people were detained, the Interior Ministry and the Blagoevgrad District Prosecutor's Office said at a briefing. Chief commissioner Krasimir Katsarov, head of the Blagoevgrad regional police directorate, also took part.

The three are held as suspects under the Interior Ministry Act. GDBOP says one of them is a "key figure" in illegal cigarette production. Commissioner Ivan Stoilov, a department head at GDBOP, said he makes and supplies machines for production lines, organises the logistics and builds such factories.

The factory is in a hall on the edge of the village. It has all the machines and production lines needed to make and pack tobacco products. In the hall, police found several assembled machines ready to run. Some were already installed, while others were still being put together and tested.

A metal container next to the hall held two more machines and a forklift. A lorry stood nearby, probably prepared to carry the illegal goods.

Police searched two addresses and a vehicle. They seized pallets of filters, foil, tin foil, cigarette paper and other supplies, as well as machines and parts of a production line for packing cigarettes.

The machines are not registered under the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act, said district prosecutor Elitsa Kalpachka, who heads the Blagoevgrad District Prosecutor's Office. They are not registered with the Customs Agency either.

Pre-trial proceedings have begun under the supervision of the Blagoevgrad District Prosecutor's Office.