Ukrainian Refugees Allegedly Exploited in Counterfeit Cigarette Factory

Italian police claim that Ukrainian refugees have been exploited by criminals creating counterfeit cigarettes in a town just south of Rome and say they have arrested the man behind the operation.

Italian police say that a total of ten foreigners were being exploited in the counterfeit cigarette factory, and among them were several refugees who had fled the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

According to police, workers in the factory, located south of Rome in the town of Pomezia, were subjected to “backbreaking work shifts and forced to work in an unhealthy environment, with windows walled over and without vents for the processing fumes,” the European Union-funded website InfoMigrants reports.

82 tonnes of counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco were seized in the operation which led to the shut down of the factory and is one of the largest seizures in recent years, estimated to be worth around 19 million euros in tax evasion.

The owner of the factory, who was taken into custody by police, reportedly has a prior history of counterfeiting, smuggling, and labour exploitation charges against him.

According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), at least 17 tonnes of seized counterfeit tobacco were linked to an executive working for China Tobacco’s European factory and the group alleges the executive was working with smugglers.

The Italian report comes after many had warned over the possibility of Ukrainian refugees becoming exploited by human traffickers in Europe in the early days of the Russian invasion.

Shirin Tinnesand, refugee and migration coordinator at the NGO Wadi sounded the alarm over the issue in early March, stating refugees were “at risk of being exposed to human trafficking, prostitution, organ donation. Only imagination sets the limits.”

Later that month, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson specifically focused on concerns regarding refugee children fleeing the conflict, saying some could become victims of traffickers and could be explored or abducted.

Earlier this month, Swedish authorities noted that an anti-prostitution operation had revealed a large number of men arrested in the operation had purchased sex from exploited Ukrainian refugees.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.