From: South China Morning Post
Number of cartons seized by customs way up on last year, but group says black market has grown
Jennifer Ngo
The number of smuggled cigarettes seized by customs in Hong Kong shot up by 41 per cent last year from 2012.
The Customs and Excise Department said yesterday that more than 38 million illicit cigarettes were seized in the year to November – 11 million more than the total for 2012.
But a concern group says the trade is increasing, and the figures do not reflect its true size.
“They say there’s a 41 per cent increase but these are just figures on successful seizures; you don’t see how big the whole trade is,” said Luisa Tam Han-may, executive director of United Against Illicit Tobacco. “The trade has grown – absolutely.”
One in every three cigarettes smoked in Hong Kong in 2012 was illicit – the second highest proportion of 11 Asian countries – Tam said, citing a British study.
That would amount to 1.8 billion illegal cigarettes, which would have cost the government HK$3.3 billion in lost tax revenue.
In a bust last month some 3.95 million smuggled cigarettes – worth HK$10 million and with potential duties of HK$6.7 million – were seized by customs.
That brought the total number of confiscated illicit cigarettes last year to nearly 42 million.
