From: Daily Sabah
Security forces seized on Tuesday 3.5 million packs of bootlegged cigarettes worth about TL 22 million ($7.89 million) in northern Turkey in what has been dubbed by media outlets as the largest amount of bootlegged cigarettes captured in a single operation.
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Smuggled cigarettes are among the common items street vendors hawk all across Turkey despite continuous operations by law enforcement to crack down on the illegal trade. Those cigarettes, described as “cheap white” in law enforcement jargon, are sold for an average price of TL 3, a lower price than the cheapest legal cigarettes.
Cigarettes made in Bulgaria are the most commonly smuggled cigarettes into Turkey. Bootlegged cigarettes from China and the United Arab Emirates are also among the most trafficked cigarettes.
