VILNIUS, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- An increase in illegal cigarette production in Latvia is creating a flow of the counterfeit products towards Lithuania and Western Europe, a top Lithuanian customs official warned on Wednesday.

"Illegal cigarette production in Latvia was particularly active last year, and the scale is really impressive as 30 truckloads were intercepted at the end of last year. Not the total amount produced, but the amount waiting to be shipped out. These are huge figures," Darius Zvironas, director general of the Lithuanian Customs Department, told members of Lithuania's Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance.

"The flow of such cigarettes from Latvia goes through Lithuania, mainly towards Western Europe, and some of them end up in Lithuania," he added, explaining that not only Western but also Belarusian cigarettes are being counterfeited in Latvia.

"It is difficult to say what share of our illegal market is made up of Belarusian cigarettes. It could be as high as one or a few percent," the Baltic News Service (BNS) quoted Zvironas as saying.

Last year, Lithuania's State Border Guard Service intercepted 111,000 packs of illegal cigarettes from Latvia, while around half a million packs have already been detained this year.

Earlier this week, a shipment of smuggled cigarettes from Latvia worth 620,000 euros (645,000 U.S. dollars) was intercepted in Raseiniai District. Enditem

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