The Bulgarian police have uncovered and stopped an illegal facility for producing cigarettes, arresting 11 in a special operation overnight.

This information was broken by none other than Minister of Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who as assumed the position of heralding most major actions of the police, as well as of commenting on the outcomes of investigations and trials.

The facility is located in the village of Patriarch Evtimovo near Sadovo in central southern Bulgaria.

Police estimated that overnight the 11 workers had managed to produce 12 master boxes of cigarettes. The production imitated popular Bulgarian brand Victory.

"This is an extremelly good operation to protect trade marks and neutralize illegal production and distribution of illegal cigarette destined chiefly for Bulgaria's internal market," commented Tsvetanov.

More police checks are currently being carried out in Plovdiv region Monday morning, in what the Ministry of Interior has dubbed special operation "the Mill."

It is estimated that some 30-40% of cigarettes smoked in Bulgaria are of illegal origin - either bootleg, or chiefly smuggled.