From: Daily Mail
Fake cigarettes containing lethal chemicals and rat droppings are being smuggled into the country hidden in sofas and floor tiles, customs officials revealed today.
More than 50million illicit cigarettes and more than four tonnes of hand-rolling tobacco was seized in just one area of the country alone last year.
Launching a campaign to warn smokers of the dangers of buying counterfeit cigarettes, officers presented a 40ft container filled with ciggies, to show the lengths smugglers go to to try to conceal their cargo.
The scheme also aims to highlight the noxious substances in fake cigarettes which many smokers have no idea about.
Bob Lyne, of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, said: “One of the main problems is the people selling these cigarettes are not bothered what’s in them. There is no way of knowing how many counterfeit cigarettes make it into the country each year.
“The message is that our officers are very vigilant. When they do catch on to a method of concealment that works they will keep on using it until they get caught.”
He said the rocketing price of cigarettes meant people were spending more and more money on different methods of concealing them.
Rolls of linoleum and flooring had been used by smugglers who have also stashed cigarettes inside consignments of exhaust pipes and underneath sofas.
A public health spokeswoman said: “The problem is that these are fake cigarettes that have no quality control in their manufacturing.
“People think that these are the kind of cigarettes you get in the shop, but you really don’t know what you’re smoking.
“All cigarettes are deadly but these are the worst.”
Fake cigarettes can contain a mix of cancer-causing chemicals including arsenic, cadmium, benzene and formaldehyde, far greater than the genuine product.
In addition they have also been found to contain sawdust, tobacco beetles and even rat droppings.
With expertly-crafted packaging it is almost impossible to spot counterfeit cigarettes until people experience the ill effects from smoking due to the highly toxic set of ingredients they contain.
