Danish Queen May Have Smoked Cigarettes Made in Ryazan Region

On October 7, Thursday, a large batch of counterfeit tobacco products was destroyed at the city dump in Ryazan. Destruction of the cigarettes topped of a criminal case brought against a group of people who illegally produced products under Philip Morris International brand names.

The criminals used trucks that had all necessary shipping documents to transport their products. Along with the declared cargo, the trucks carried fake cigarettes.

A criminal charge was filed after law enforcement officers seized a large batch of counterfeit cigarettes being delivered to customers. The confiscated cigarettes numbered over 40 million.

The list of countries that received counterfeit tobacco products is impressive. Fake cigarettes were supplied to Poland, Italy, Latvia, Great Britain and Denmark.

According to Alexander Vorobyov, press secretary of the Head Directorate for Economic Crimes of the Federal Service for Economic and Tax Crimes of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs, Danish nationals expressed the greatest indignation about the fact that counterfeit cigarettes were imported to their country. They said the Dutch queen smoked Philip Morris cigarettes and worried that the cigarettes from Shilovo could have found their way into the royal palace.

Destruction of the cigarettes drew the interest of journalists from Russian and foreign media outlets. Federal television channels and information agencies assigned their correspondents to cover the event.