Only 5% of Contraband Cigarettes Seized

Editors Note: From CRE Brazil
Federal Revenue Specialists estimate that less than 5% of contraband cigarettes to Brazil are seized. Just to have an idea of the amount of illegal products that come into the country, in 2009 the government destroyed 78 million packs. And boxes of cigarettes represent 40% of the total number of contraband articles collected by inspectors.

Specialists estimate that cigarette smuggling is connected to drug trafficking. Many times, on the same road or bus coming from Paraguay, police find cigarette boxes and tablets of marijuana. “It’s organized crime. The group has a logistic distribution throughout the country’s roads and spreads this product out there,” said the Director of the Brazilian Association to Combat Counterfeiting (ABCF), Fernando Ramazzini, in an interview with the weekly magazine, IstoÉ.

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