Warsaw  - Border guards detained 12 people and seized some 6.4 million zloty (1.97 million dollars) worth of cigarettes, supplies and equipment in two illegal Polish cigarette factories, the Polish Press Agency reported Thursday.

Three Polish citizens were detained Wednesday along with six Ukrainians and three citizens of Azerbaijan in connection with factories in Kozuchow and Dobiegniew, western Poland.

Officials seized professional production equipment and some 30,000 cartons of forged cigarettes in the gated, sound-proof facilities.

Foreigners worked in the factories in "inhumane conditions," and were "forced into nearly slave labour," a border guard spokesperson told the Polish Press Agency. (dpa)