From: GRUPO SENECA MÉXICO

Editor’s Note: See also Free trade zones fuelling global rise in cheap cigarettes.

From: The National (UAE)

A changing dynamic of modern warfare was discussed at a global summit on the illicit trade in Abu Dhabi

Nick Webster

The underground economy of wildlife trafficking and the illicit trade in tobacco is destabilising regions and prolonging civil wars around world, economists have said. Reuters

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The Abu Dhabi event brought together delegates and experts from government, law-enforcement agencies and the private sector to address the root causes of illegal trade and ways to battle it.

Editor’s Note: See also The Role of Duty Free Zones in Facilitating the Trade in Illicit Tobacco and Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals and From Belize to Montenegro, Free Trade Zones Fuel the Trade in Illicit Tobacco.

From: The National (UAE)

Abu Dhabi summit on the illicit trade hears latest action to combat rise of tobacco smuggling

Nick Webster

One year on from the UAE’s landmark 100 per cent tobacco tax, half the smoking population is believed to have turned to cheaper, illicit cigarettes.

Middle East experts in the black market trade claim half the UAE cigarette industry is now taken up by ‘cheap whites’ or lower quality cigarettes.

From: STL News

Waqar Nawaz

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Udayappan Subramanian, of Haymarket, Virginia, was sentenced to 12 months probation for unlawful cigarette smuggling, First Assistant United States Attorney Randy Bernard announced today.

Subramanian, age 41, pled guilty to one count of “Trafficking of Contraband Cigarettes” in June 2018. He transporting large quantities of contraband cigarettes across state lines for redistribution and sale. The cigarettes were acquired in Virginia, where the tax rate for cigarettes is one of the lowest in the nation, and sold in other states, including New York, which has one of the nation’s highest tax rates. The cigarettes were possessed and transported in West Virginia.

From: Fair Observer

By Rachael Willis

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To make matters worse, the distribution of contraband cigarettes is on the rise. Illicit tobacco products now make up more than 10% of total consumption, a figure that is drastically higher in some regions, such as the Balkans. These undercover smokes substantially exacerbate the problem of toxic ingredients seeping into the water table, as they often contain far higher levels of noxious chemicals, such as cadmium or arsenic. They also aggravate tobacco’s harmful effects on health. The tax revenue lost through illicit trade — the European Union, for example, bleeds more than €10 billion each year — undermines public health initiatives, while the smuggled cigarettes’ low prices keep smokers hooked. The tobacco industry is well aware of how the illicit tobacco trade continues to fuel their business, hence why — despite paying lip service to the fight against cigarette smuggling — the tobacco titans have consistently been involved in the illegal practice themselves.