More than 27 tonnes of tobacco seized throughout France in one week. Operation Colbert II is part of the national plan to combat tobacco trafficking 2023-2025.
Aix-en-Provence customs officers made the largest seizure of the operation, on the road, with 10.4 tonnes of cigarettes. In total, the operation resulted in 108 arrests and the opening of 52 files requesting administrative closures. Since December 2021, the authorities have dismantled five clandestine cigarette manufacturing factories in France, a veritable cash machine for criminal organizations.