Monthly Archives: August 2011

From: STV (Scottish Television)

More than half of shopkeepers in Scotland are aware of smuggled tobacco being sold in their area, according to a survey.

The poll by the Tobacco Retailers Alliance also found that 45% of independent retailers knew about “proxy purchasing” from their shops, when adults buy tobacco for under-18s.

A total of 53% said they knew smuggled tobacco was being sold in their area.

From: RTÉ News

A group representing Irelands’ tobacco retailers has warned that cigarette smuggling is the biggest threat to the survival of Irish retail businesses.

From: Al-Masry Al-Youm

A recent study showed that the Egyptian government lost about LE160 million during the first half of this year due to cigarette smuggling.

The study, which was conducted by an international cigarette company, said that smuggled cigarettes amounted to 2.1 percent of the total cigarette market in Egypt for the first half of 2011, compared to 0.01 percent for the same period the year before.

The study has attributed the increase to new taxes that the government levied on cigarettes after the revolution.

From: Dumfries & Galloway Standard

A DUMFRIES man was caught smuggling £6.3 million worth of fake cigarettes into the UK.

Lorry driver Colin Beattie, 45, had brought the haul through the docks at Dover.

But he was intercepted by customs officers and following an extensive investigation was on Monday jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Beattie was found guilty, by unanimous jury decision, of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of duty chargeable on the cigarettes.

He had evaded paying £1.046 million in tax.

Illegal tobacco worth more than £75,000 has been seized from a garage in Gloucester.

The haul included imported and counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco products not intended for UK distribution.

The discovery, weighing 334kg, was part of an on-going operation in the county.

Eddie Coventry, from trading standards, said: “This seizure would have represented a substantial loss to legitimate businesses.”

Anyone with information is urged to contact the department.

From: Ottawa Citizen

From: The International News (PK)

Islamabad: The annual smuggling of two to three billion cigarettes into Pakistan from Afghanistan and Iran is costing the kitty around Rs1.5 billion every year, a tobacco industry source said Friday.

The source said that inefficiency and connivance of customs officials deputed at ports and the country s borders with Afghanistan and Iran with smuggler were to blame for the huge revenue loss.

He said the law allowed sale of only those cigarettes that carried approved pictorial health warning on packets.

He however, said local markets were flooded with cigarette packets without mandatory pictorial health warning.

From: The Bolton News (UK)

MORE than one in 10 cigarettes smoked in Bolton are made from illegally smuggled tobacco supplied by organised criminal gangs.

Research by the tobacco industry shows 10.5 per cent of tobacco consumed in Bolton is illegal — making it the seventh worst place in the North West and among the worst in the country.

St Helen’s tops the region’s hall of shame, with 17.5 per cent of tobacco found to be illegal, followed by Blackburn, Blackpool, Manchester, Preston, Liverpool and then Bolton.

From: CecilWhig.com

Charles M. Oberly, III, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced that Eduard Ifraimov was sentenced to 21 months in prison for trafficking in untaxed cigarettes, receipt of counterfeit cigarette tax stamps, and money laundering. Ifraimov also was sentenced to three years of supervised release, which will commence following his prison term.

Eduard Ifraimov is a 39 year old, New York City resident who emigrated to the United States from Russia in 2002 and became a naturalized citizen in 2009.

Editor’s Note:  CRE has repeatedly emphasized that counterfeit cigarettes are a significant tobacco source for underage smokers.  The following BBC story demonstrates that police in Lancashire (UK) understand the unique dangers to public health from counterfeit cigarettes and have launched a special operation against such sales.  It’s time for US health and law enforcement authorities to take comparable targeted action against counterfeit cigarettes.

Crackdown on illegal cigarettes in Blackpool

A new operation targeting people who sell counterfeit cigarettes to young people, is under way in Blackpool.

Officers are stopping young people around the town and asking them where they bought their cigarettes as part of Operation Smokescreen.