Four suspected counterfeiters were arrested after an underground cigarette factory disguised as a prison was uncovered by police in Sichuan.
The factory in Meishan carried a nameplate reading 'The No1 Block of the Xinkang Prison of Sichuan Province' over its entrance.
Xinhua said police raided it after an anonymous tip-off and found workshops, three manufacturing lines, 565 cartons of cigarettes comprising more than 40 brands, 117 tonnes of cut tobacco and several dormitories.
Built last October, the factory had a daily production capacity of 500 cartons of cigarettes worth 250,000 yuan. Xinhua did not say how many of the counterfeit cigarettes had been sold.
Police, who are still investigating the case, did not disclose the number of workers involved but said that they were being treated like prisoners. 'They were not allowed to go out and had to stay in the 'factory' around the clock,' the report said.
Xinhua did not explain if the workers had been hired by the counterfeiters or kidnapped.