Comptroller’s Supervisory Agent Mike Madison peered through his binoculars, eyeing the black Toyota Camry as it pulled up to the Woodbridge tobacco shop. A man in a polo shirt got out, laid down a mat in his trunk and went inside. He emerged carrying several grocery bags — 10 to 12 cartons of cigarettes, Madison guessed — and drove away.
Monthly Archives: September 2011
CIGARETTE SMUGGLING ON THE RISE IN HIGH TAX COUNTRIES
Source: Agenzia Giornalistica Italia
Editor’s Note: Translation courtesy of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness
(AGI) – Rome, September 28 – “In recent years, there has been an increase in the smuggling of foreign tobacco in those countries that apply a high level of taxation on tobacco,” Lieutenant Colonel Fabrizio Pisanelli, the Guardia di Finanza explained to AGI. As a result of the [financial] crisis and the need for an economic measure that is able to cope with the effects, Italy has revised the rate of VAT on foreign tobacco.
Birmingham Crackdown on illegal ciggies hailed a success
From: BirminghamMail.net (UK)
by Neil Elkes
SIX out of 29 newsagents, petrol stations and convenience stores visited by Birmingham Trading Standards investigators were found to be selling illegally imported cigarettes and tobacco.
Officials, who used a hand-held computer scanning device to detect illegal tobacco or cigarettes, also found fake packs of rolling tobacco which is frequently stronger and often padded out with impurities, including rat droppings and sand.
While the price of a pack of cigarettes has reached £7.50, smokers can pick up imported packs on which no tax has been paid, for less than half that. The Treasury said it lost out on £2.2 billion-worth of duty due to the illicit trade.
Quebecers still lighting up in spite of smuggling crackdown
From: CTV Montreal
MONTREAL
— The celebrated crackdown on cigarette smuggling has done little to reduce smoking in the province, according to the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control.
Co-director Flory Doucas is now calling on authorities to intensify efforts to reduce smoking in the province.
Doucas urges more measures to make smoking less attractive to consumers, particularly young ones. She would like to speed the process involved in putting unpleasant images on cigarette boxes. The photos depict illnesses suffered by smokers.
And although the organization is happy for the smuggling crackdown, Doucas also considers the operation has diverted attention from the real problem of smoking in general.
$8b in revenue lost to contraband
From: New Straits Times (Singapore)
Being caught with even one stick of illicit cigarette can land a person in serious trouble with the law.
For the past one year, more than 100 people have been charged with selling or being in possession of illicit cigarettes, some with even one stick.
Almost all were let off with fines but the Customs Department is planning to take the fight against cigarette smugglers and sellers to the next level.
“We are going to press for custodial sentence against repeat offenders,” said the department’s deputy director (enforcement and compliance) Datuk Matrang Suhaili.
