Sao Paolo, Brazil shut down an illegal cigarette factory..

March 28, 2011 - Brazilian authorities shut down an illegal cigarette factory in Sao Paolo, reports Jornal Nacional.

Police found 20 million cigarette, 20 tons of tobacco, counterfeit packaging and labels. The goods seized were valued at $3 million. One person was arrested.

Brazil is flooded with counterfeit cigarettes. Tobacco companies lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually to smuggled or fake cigarettes. These illegal cigarettes now represent 34 percent of the volume of cigarettes sold per year, jumping from 5 percent of the market in 1991 and 20 percent in 1995. Approximately 51 billion cigarettes are sold illegally every year in the Brazilian market out of a total of 150 billion cigarettes sold per year, mainly originating in Paraguay.
COUNTERFEITING AND PIRACY IN BRAZIL:
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT.

Reference: Illegal factory closed in Brazil, Tobacco Reporter, 3/28/2011.