From: Sunday Times
By Graeme Hosken
South Africa accounts for a quarter of the world’s illicit cigarette market‚ with taxes not paid on one in four smokes bought in the country.
Despite this‚ the South African Revenue Service has failed to answer questions this week on how much the country loses in terms of revenue from the illegal trade in cigarettes.
An explosion in the trade of illegal and illicit cigarettes in South Africa over the past five years has seen the country become both a multi-million dollar market as well as a conduit to other African markets for international smuggling syndicates.
