Editor’s Note: Paraguay is notorious as the Western Hemisphere’s primary source of illicit cigarettes. Ontario is doing its best to become Paraguay’s leading competitor.
From: Gangsterism Out Blog
1 in 3 Cigarettes Sold in Ontario are Contraband
Contraband was highest in northern Ontario, where illegal cigarettes now represent 64% of all cigarettes purchased, the highest rate ever observed. In southern Ontario, 35% of cigarettes were illegal while the figure was lower, at 28% in eastern Ontario and Ottawa. The contraband tobacco trade is fueled by 50 illegal cigarette factories, based mostly in Ontario and Quebec, each of which can produce as many as 10,000 cigarettes a minute.
Ontario had the worst contraband tobacco problem in Canada to begin with- about 1 in 3 of all cigarettes purchased in the province illegal. Contraband was highest in Northern and Ottawa/Eastern Ontario, where illegal cigarettes represented 51% and 36% of all cigarettes purchased. About 1 in 4 cigarettes in the GTA and 29% in Southern Ontario were illegal.
