an illegal tobacco factory believed to be producing £700,000 of fake cigarettes per day has been raided it was shut down in derbyshire after an investigation by hm revenue and customs, who miss out on billions a year in tax because of the illicit trade tax officials, along with derbyshire police, dismantled the suspected illicit tobacco factory at an industrial storage unit near derby city centre more than 12 tonnes of tobacco, worth an estimated £283,000 in duty and taxes, was seized during the operation scroll down for video  raid: this derbyshire illegal cigarette factory has been shut down, and was capable of producing £700,000 of cigarettes per day  stash: the factory hidden at an industrial storage unit near derby city centre held more than 12 tonnes of tobacco  afterwards, stuart taylor, assistant director, criminal investigation, hmrc, said: 'tobacco fraud costs the uk £2 billion a year in lost tax and this factory alone had the potential to rob taxpayers of hundreds of thousands of pounds a day in evaded excise duty 'in addition to significant revenue loss, illicit tobacco products damage legitimate businesses and the trade is unregulated making cheaper tobacco more readily available to the young and vulnerable' a 38 year old man from the city of derby was arrested and has been released on bail until june 2015 investigations are ongoing in the last two years, almost 33 billion cigarettes and over 800 tonnes of illicit hand rolling tobacco have been seized and 593 criminals involved have been prosecuted in that time warehouses linked to other tobacco seizures were all part of a suspected network of organised criminals other swoops were made in essex, preston and blackburn   netting 11 tonnes of raw tobacco in total last year a warehouse in bury was raided by hm revenue and customs officers at the same time as two domestic houses and a garage in the area, which were all searched as part of operation eel last april the tobacco was found wrapped in boxes and bags and is believed to have been illegally brought into the uk without excise duty being paid held: a 38 year old man from the city of derby was arrested and has been released on bail until june 2015 over the bags full of tobacco found  hmrc said it was 'in the process' of being mixed with chemicals at the unit by a gang and converted into hand rolling tobacco how many illegal cigarettes are in the uk? border officials say that close to 50 million cigarettes are seized each month   but the overall figure is much higher  what do they cost? illegal packets of cigarettes can cost between £3 and £4   less than half the price of legal packs  how much revenue is lost? £21 billion was lost in the last year because of illegal tobacco trade  of the average pack of fags, how much of the price goes to the government in tax and duty? on a typical pack of 20  cigarettes the total tax burden is £617 on typical £798 pack  dry, harvested tobacco leaves are believed to have been imported from tobacco growing country then processed using and white vinegar, and flavoured with vanilla, according to hmrc 'there are no controls over what is mixed into counterfeit cigarettes and by buying it smokers are funding international organised crime gangs,' an hmrc spokesman told mailonline 'we are cracking down on it' fake printed wallets would be filled with tobacco and used to dupe customers into believing they were genuine sandra smith, assistant director of criminal investigation's at hmrc, said: 'illicit tobacco factories hidden in our communities are packaging low quality tobacco and i'd urge people to be wary 'cheap tobacco may seem like a bargain, but there are no controls over what is mixed into the product and by buying it smokers are funding organised crime gangs' sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article
derby around £21bn
cigarette factory in derby shut down and a man, 38, was arrested . hmrc says illegal tobacco trade costs around £21bn in lost tax revenue 