Promised monthly wages of up to 10,000 euros, locked inside a cigarette factory in Slovenia: Macedonian police are part of the investigation

The promise was a salary of several thousand, even up to 10,000 euros a month in Europe. Instead there was a hall with no daylight, a double fence, CCTV and 12-hour shifts. Slovenian police in the Pomurje region have uncovered one of the largest illegal cigarette factories in Europe, where dozens of foreigners were forced to work in inhumane conditions.

At least 33 Paraguayan citizens and one Bulgarian citizen reached Slovenia via Zagreb. From there they were moved to a plant near Lendava - without knowing where they were being taken and with orders to stay silent the whole way. They arrived at the start of September. At the entrance their mobile phones were taken away, and they were not allowed to leave the building or communicate with the outside world. They were never paid.

According to their statements, they worked 12 hours a day, often dizzy from the tobacco and chemicals. Their food was brought by a man who gave them instructions and insulted them while doing so, and the meals were sometimes not enough. With no natural light they could not tell day from night. Police suspect this was not the first group to work there.

"They say they would never have accepted the job had they known the truth. Above all they want to see their families again, most of all their children. They told officers they had been desperate for someone to find them and rescue them," said Mitja Jager, director of Slovenia's Criminal Police Directorate. All 34 workers have been granted the status of victims of human trafficking, with safe accommodation, food, psychosocial and legal help and support to return home.

Millions of cigarettes, one arrest - and he was released

The factory was housed in the premises of the former Nafta refinery and equipped with modern machines for processing tobacco and producing and packing cigarettes. "That machine literally spits out cigarettes," said Dušan Pečnik of Slovenia's Financial Administration. The search turned up around 14 million cigarettes and 44 tonnes of tobacco, and police also stopped a lorry carrying another 14 million cigarettes. A warehouse of production materials was found near Celje. Evaded excise duty is estimated at more than 9.8 million euros, not counting VAT. The packaging was labelled in English, so investigators assume the goods were destined for the UK or Ireland.

Slovenia's National Bureau of Investigation suspects two Slovenian citizens from the Maribor area of taking part in an international criminal group. One was arrested and brought before an investigating judge - who released him after questioning. The other is being sought. They face up to 15 years in prison for human trafficking and up to 12 for tax evasion. Thirty-four people worked like slaves for weeks, and the only person arrested is walking free. What is an investigation like that worth if nobody ends up behind bars?

The investigation involves the Croatian police, Europol and the police forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Austria, Hungary and Italy. What role the Macedonian police play cannot be determined from the information released so far. Nor has it been revealed who met the workers in Zagreb, or whether crimes linked to their transport were committed on Croatian soil. When the chain starts in Paraguay, runs through Zagreb and ends near Lendava, how many Balkan hands held it in between?