From: The Inquister
The Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has come up with the definitive cure. According to a report by the International Business Times, it recently executed two people simply for smoking. That seems to be about the best deterrent anyone has come up with so far, even if it is a bit more brutal than nicotine patches or E-cigarettes.
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One form of control is to impose higher taxes on cigarettes, but this also has a downside. In Nigeria, taxes account for nearly 40 percent of the retail price of a pack of cigarettes – similar to the rate in New York. This has enabled a large smuggling operation to develop, which, perversely, has generated funds for Islamic terrorist groups.
The Center for Public Integrity reported in the past that cigarette smuggling provided the bulk of revenue for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a terrorist group active in Algeria with known ties to Boko Haram. Hamas, al-Qaida, and Hezbollah are also known to generate millions in funding from tobacco smuggling operations.
