The inspection teams of the Ministry of Commerce seized a residential villa in northern Riyadh that had been converted by six expatriate workers of Asian nationality into a facility for manufacturing counterfeit tobacco products.
During the inspection, the Ministry discovered large quantities of counterfeit “Vape” products and “Dzrt” cigarette alternatives prepared for distribution and sale in the markets.
The confiscated items included more than 4 million counterfeit tobacco products, 13 machines used for manufacturing, filling, and packaging tobacco, in addition to oils, flavors, raw materials, and containers. The violators were referred to the competent authorities for legal action under the Anti-Commercial Fraud Law, and the facility was shut down in cooperation with the Ministry of Human Resources, the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO), the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, and the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property.
The Ministry reaffirmed its commitment to confronting violations of the Anti-Commercial Fraud Law and enforcing penalties against offenders, stressing the risks posed by such practices in deceiving consumers. Under the law, penalties include imprisonment of up to three years, fines of up to one million riyals, or both, in addition to public disclosure of the violators’ identities and deportation of the expatriate workers.