German officials raided an illegal cigarette factory with English writing on the packets, which were being sold across Europe.

Customs officers from North Rhine-Westphalia, Hanover, and Frankfurt am Main, along with special forces from the Federal Police, swept through 14 factory addresses in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony on March 18.

Footage shows stacks of illegally manufactured cigarettes neatly packed in boxes, along with a large stockpile of tobacco.

Cigarette manufacturing machines, which insert tobacco into paper and filters, were seen in operation.

The Customs Investigation Office in Essen said: 'In Dusseldorf, in the early hours of this morning, the Essen customs investigation department uncovered a suspected illegal cigarette production facility on an industrial scale and provisionally arrested 12 people.

'Since April 2024, the Essen Customs Investigation Office, based in Cologne, and the Dusseldorf Public Prosecutor's Office have been investigating a criminal group on suspicion of large-scale, gang-related tax evasion through the operation of a suspected illegal manufacturing facility for untaxed counterfeit cigarettes.

'There is also suspicion of commercial tax evasion through their profitable sale on the German and European black market.'

Officials said that customs investigators are being supported by personnel from the main customs offices in Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Dortmund, Krefeld, Cologne, and Aachen; the customs investigation offices in Hanover and Frankfurt am Main; the Customs Criminal Investigation Office, as well as special forces from the Federal Police and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief.

In February, Belgian customs dismantled the country's largest illegal cigarette factory in Lommel, seizing 30 million cigarettes and arresting 51 individuals, primarily from Eastern Europe.

This month, Irish authorities shut down an illicit cigarette operation in County Louth, arresting five men.