Lincolnshire Trading Standards found thousands of counterfeit cigarette boxes during an inspection on 20 May 2021.
Trading Standards were inspecting properties in and around the Boston area alongside Lincolnshire Police, Immigration, and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. The inspections were part of Operation Entebbe, which aims to tackle exploitation of workers.
During inspection at a local car wash, officers found the huge stash of printed packs intended to be used to produce counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes.
Andy Wright of Lincolnshire Trading Standards said: "This isn't the first time the manufacture of counterfeit cigarettes has been discovered in Lincolnshire. We frequently find illegal products at retail level, but this recent find shows the sort of quantities being manufactured.
"Worryingly, the difference in price between counterfeit and genuine cigarettes at retail is becoming smaller. If buyers only knew what their purchase money was actually used for they might not be quite so inclined to buy them.
"Counterfeit goods in general only look like the real thing. Scrape below the surface and you'll usually find counterfeit products bear little resemblance to the real deal.
"That's even more evident with counterfeit cigarettes where laboratory testing is one of the few ways of telling exactly what's being sold. We have worked closely with the chemists at the University of Lincoln who have conducted tests on counterfeit cigarettes found on sale in Lincolnshire. They found the levels of the most toxic elements – arsenic, cadmium and nickel – in the fakes were significantly higher.
"When compared to legal cigarettes, counterfeits can contain as much as five times the level of cadmium, six times as much lead, 160% more tar and 133% more carbon monoxide.
"It's hardly news that cigarettes are bad for your health; it's written on the packet. But few would realise that counterfeits pose such a significantly higher risk.
"Yes, they're a few quid cheaper, but they're cheaper for a reason. Smoking 20 counterfeit cigarettes can be as damaging to your health as smoking 600 genuine ones."
Lincolnshire Trading Standards is committed to cracking down on counterfeit cigarettes in the county. If you any information, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or report online at crimestoppers-uk.org.