“Marlboro Red or Gold?”: Counterfeit Cigarette Trade In The Netherlands
- Justīne Kozlovska & Daniela Ivančáková
- Feb 26
- 9 min read
“Ten euros, cash or card?” an older man behind the counter rushes out. “We don’t have cash,” we respond. An unsatisfied grin covers the man’s face, he pauses, then waves his hand. “That’s okay,” he gestures to the PIN machine. While we secure the transaction, a younger man, previously standing by the entrance, has now made his way to the counter. He quickly pulls a pack of Marlboro Golds out of his jacket. “Put them in your pocket right now, don’t go out to the street with them in your hand,” the older man strictly commands, quickly adding that the cigarettes are from France.
European Commission defines counterfeit cigarettes as ‘cigarettes which are illegally produced and sold by a party other than the original trademark holder’. While the recent policy changes in the Netherlands, including plain packaging, banned cigarette sales in supermarkets or smoke-free campuses and bus stops, discourage smoking, it opens new opportunities for the counterfeit cigarette trade.
According to Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, the increase is visible in all European countries, including the Netherlands. “In the last five years, from January 2020 until December 2024, Eurojust has been engaged in 151 cases of illicit cigarette trade,” a spokesperson for Eurojust told The Glass Room.
It did not take long before stumbling upon counterfeit cigarettes here, in Groningen. After visiting a few shops where our requests for “cheap cigarettes” were met with suspicious smirks, we were convinced that our bad luck was due to a lack of insider status and the right code words.
“Do you have some cheap cigarettes?” we ask, standing in a tiny supermarket in one of Groningen’s well-known nightlife streets. Smiles wide, eyelashes fluttering, we refuse to accept the initial decline by the owner. “You know what we mean, cheap cigarettes.” A little grin appears on his face, “I will give you mine – 14 euros.” After a second of silence, he corrects, “ten euros.” We are ready to leave, convinced this interaction was nothing more than a cheap scam of selling us a half-used cigarette pack. Suddenly, a question, which has repeatedly appeared throughout our investigation forces us to stop: “Marlboro Red or Gold?”
The 2024 Empty Pack Survey indicates that within the Netherlands, more than half of all counterfeit cigarettes are sold under the Marlboro brand. Predominantly, the counterfeit cigarette market allows consumers to choose between Marlboro Gold and Red. On the packaging, these cigarettes are usually presented as off-duty and originating from Switzerland.
Counterfeit Cigarettes: Explained
Counterfeit cigarettes enter the EU from various points and are produced by different factories, resulting in discrepancies in the quality, design and packaging. “Sometimes it comes back to laboratory work to make the distinction, and in other cases, even a child could see it,” Jan Hein Sträter, the director of the trade association for cigarettes based in the Netherlands (VSK), told The Glass Room. Nevertheless, there are various overarching indicators that differentiate a counterfeit cigarette from a real one.
Starting with the packaging, Prof. Dr. Klaus von Lampe, a criminology professor at the Berlin School of Business and Law, points out that cardboard used for cigarette packaging differs in the quality of the paper, colour and the finesse of the printing. “Under a microscope, you can see how sophisticated a printing machine was used for printing the packages. The cellophane wrappers in legitimate cigarette factories are put on the package in a way that shows consistency,” he told The Glass Room. “The flaps, to the tenth of a millimetre, they're always the same size, in place the same way. And in these illegal factories, it's much more, let's say, amateurish. It's all skewed.”
The packs can also be recognised by serial numbers. While, for legal cigarettes, the numbers change per 2000 sticks, counterfeit ones often all have the same serial number. Similarly, safety marks on the side of the packaging can also be used to differentiate real cigarettes from fake. There are two types of safety marks. The first type, prescribed by the Dutch Customs, includes hard-to-copy holographic symbols and certain hidden images, while the second type comes from specific companies and factories. “These [marks] can be many things, but they are not disclosed; that would make life too simple for the criminals,” explained Sträter.
The key giveaways for individual counterfeit cigarettes are the quality of the filter tip and logo. Since printing logos can be expensive, counterfeit cigarette factories often skip it.
Video: Can people tell apart counterfeit cigarettes from the real ones?
‘If they’re half of price, I’m buying’
The Netherlands has incorporated aggressive strategies to strive towards a tobacco-free generation, which is hoped to be achieved by 2040. In 2020 cigarettes were sold for an average of €8.20 per pack, whereas in 2024, the price rose to €11.10, one of the most expensive in the EU. The excise tax on cigarettes has also significantly upped from €5.87 to €7.81 per 20 cigarettes, as reported by Nationale Smokkel Monitor.
“It's like an open invitation to criminals and terrorists to make money from the price differences, and it happens on a large scale,” Sträter points out that uneven price points among neighbouring countries facilitate counterfeit cigarette trade. “They [government] say the more expensive cigarettes are the way to prevent people from smoking. Well maybe, but it is also the greatest incentive they could have thought of to enlarge all these criminal activities,” Sträter said.
Under the National Prevention Agreement, the Dutch government has introduced regulations limiting the sale of tobacco. In 2024, supermarkets, which previously accounted for approximately half of all cigarette sales, were prohibited from selling tobacco products, limiting it to only specialized tobacco stores and selected gas stations.
As cigarettes become more expensive and harder to get, smokers seek alternative illegal options. According to report by Nationale Smokkel Monitor, in countries such as the Netherlands, France, and the UK, where cigarette prices continue to rise, the illicit cigarette trade, including counterfeits, is becoming more prominent.
The Real Cost of Counterfeit Cigarettes
Additionally, to more than a billion lost in Dutch tax money annually, the counterfeit cigarette trade also raises major health concerns. Since the tobacco is imported from various parts of the world, the quality and metal levels differ per region.
“We found that counterfeit Marlboros from Paraguay had lower levels of heavy metals than the genuine ones, whereas the counterfeit Marlboros from North Korea and China had much higher levels of heavy metals, lead in particular, and cadmium, adding additional negative effect on the health of the smokers,” explained Dr. von Lampe.
Unlike legal cigarettes, counterfeit cigarettes are produced in underground factories, often in unhygienic conditions and under no regulations. Cigarettes can be contaminated with arsenic and lead, both toxic elements, containing excessive amounts of tar and nicotine.
As mentioned by Sträter, “Counterfeit cigarettes are a loss to health because there's no way of controlling what is inside these cigarettes.” London Tobacco Alliance reports that rat poison, asbestos and human and animal faeces have been found in counterfeit cigarettes.
However, some of these health concerns remain unaddressed. According to Dr. von Lampe, a lot of research in this area is done by the anti-smoking lobby, who claim that smoking is harmful either way and that there is no significant difference between smoking real and counterfeit cigarettes.
“The tobacco industry, I guess they would be interested in this, theoretically, because it shows that you have good reasons not to buy counterfeit cigarettes, but then they are in the middle of pushing the notion that cigarette smoking is bad,” says Dr. von Lampe.
Beyond Groningen
According to a recent KPMG report, in 2023, people in the Netherlands consumed 10.6 billion cigarettes. Of the total number, 25% entered the Dutch market illegally.
Scale of the scope in the Netherlands in 2024
Sträter points out that the spread of counterfeit cigarettes within the Netherlands continues to increase. By the end of 2024, 5.1% of all cigarettes consumed were counterfeit. This is a staggering change, considering that in 2023, the number stood at 1.7%.
The 2024 Empty Pack Survey compared the percentage of counterfeit cigarettes found across all Dutch cities. Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht were ranked on top, while Groningen was ninth with 0,2 % of counterfeits, predominantly fake Marlboro’s.
Percentage of Marlboro counterfeits from the total cigarette sample in the top 10 Dutch cities
We wondered – if finding counterfeit cigarettes was so effortless in Groningen, what about Rotterdam?
After a two-hour tour around the city, we find ourselves in Nieuwe Binnenweg. After many failed attempts to secure a pack of counterfeit Marlboro Golds, we switch strategies and start asking Rotterdamers for clues.
“I buy my cigarettes in the Asian store, they are cheaper there,” we are informed by a bypasser. We quickly realize – this store might have more to offer than SIM cards and a generous selection of fizzy drinks.
Our first request to buy cigarettes is initially ignored. After twenty seconds of silence, the shop owner acknowledges our presence. From his gestures, we sense that a language barrier might be standing between us and the cigarettes, so we ask again, slower, with more emphasis. “Do you sell Marlboro Golds? Cigarettes?” Within seconds a cartoon box stands on the counter, tens of cigarette packs stacked upon each other. “Nine euros,” the owner says in fluent English.
Origins and Criminal Networks
The untaxed cigarettes enter the market in ships and vans run by organized crime networks, groups with complex smuggling strategies. “There is not one country in the EU that stands out, the network is everywhere. You might think that you are looking at a farmhouse on a field in your own country, but it’s actually a storage full of cigarettes,” said the spokesperson for Eurojust.
Working on large-scale international operations, Europol has a special team of investigators trying to dismantle the entire network, including the production, trafficking as well as people involved in the end market.
Current discussions on the counterfeit cigarette trade revolve around an increase in domestic production. “Before, certain countries in Eastern Europe used to be favored by the criminal networks producing cigarettes. [Now] we are increasingly finding production facilities in Western Europe closer to the transit and end markets,” Europol’s spokesperson confirmed for The Glass Room. “This reflects a shift in the strategies employed by [criminal] networks.”
Confirming this shift, Sträter describes processes of criminal networks, which often run operations through multiple countries to lower the traceability, “They have the raw tobacco in one place, production in another place, and the market is even somewhere totally else. The packaging they keep in yet another country.”
Introducing Angela
In order to check the market first-hand and remain safe while browsing the dark waters of the criminal underworld, Angela was born. As a very curious beginner with all the ‘fake cig stuff’, she had several interesting conversations with dealers, who seemingly unbothered, had their personal websites with email addresses on Clearnet, with some even fully admitting the illegal nature of their actions.
The entry point to the digital realm of the fake cigarette trade was through Reddit threads, which pointed to Facebook groups and dark web platforms. After Angela successfully accessed various forums to find the source of counterfeit cigarettes, it became clear that the trade is an international criminal gold mine.
Alternative Ways
One can find counterfeit cigarettes in many places – while buying a quick drink, searching the web, or, in our case, 200 meters from your doorstep. We obtained our first pack of counterfeit Marlboro Golds through a housing group chat. “Does anyone know where to buy counterfeit cigarettes in Groningen,” we typed out. Within five minutes we were connected with our first-ever counterfeit cigarette dealer.
“You can come, I will drop them down from the second floor,” he texts. We, however, are determined to do this exchange properly, insisting on meeting in the open hallway.
“Cigarettes here are so expensive,” we try to act nonchalant. “So, where do they come from?” He tells us that he does not know, it comes from his dealer. “Many people buy them, it is better than paying 12€,” he adds, after giving us a short tutorial on ways to prevent the tobacco from falling out of the counterfeit cigarette.
On Fighting the Trade
“Counterfeit cigarettes and the illicit cigarette trade in general is not the first thing people think of when it comes to organized crime,” the spokesperson for Eurojust told The Glass Room. According to them, the lack of awareness and attention dedicated to this criminal branch makes it easy for the trade to expand.
This very issue was illustrated when The Glass Room contacted several police departments, including the one in Noord-Holland under which falls the city of Amsterdam. “This is not a police matter. You can reach out to Customs,” responded the mediadesk. After we pointed out cases of domestic production of counterfeit cigarettes that might be beyond Dutch Customs' reach, the answer was that they, in full honesty, don’t know who should be concerned with the subject.
Monitoring the ports and other potential entry points to the country also remains difficult. “We're talking about millions of containers entering the Dutch harbour and then a lot comes by mail. Take alone all the packages that come from China. Online, you can even order counterfeit money from China and it will be delivered to your doorstep,” he elaborated.
On the international level, counterfeit cigarette trade continues being combatted by Eurojust and Europol, while in the Netherlands Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), Dutch Customs and four industry partners work together on tackling the issue.