Police have arrested nine Bulgarian nationals and seized 3,600 kilos of tobacco and 2.3 million cigarettes in a raid on an illegal cigarette factory in Aalsmeer.

The factory was housed in a warehouse and kitted out with machinery to make cigarettes and a large generator for electricity.

Aalsmeer, just a few kilometres south of Amsterdam, is the centre of the Dutch flower trade.

The men also appeared to live in the warehouse, part of which had been converted into sleeping areas, RTL television says.