From: Metro.co.uk
One in three cigarettes sold in London last year were illegal, it is claimed.
The number of dodgy smokes on offer on the capital’s black market at the end of 2011 surged from one in five at the beginning of the year.
It contributed to a rise of a third, costing the Treasury more than £2billion – the lost revenue going to smugglers and criminal gangs instead.
Sharp tax increases, well above inflation rates, have been blamed for driving up the price of cigarettes and giving smugglers the chance to cash in on cheaper alternatives.
‘If you look at the profits that can be made and the punishments that exist, then it makes sense from the criminals’ point of view,’ added former Scotland Yard detective Will O’Reilly, who helped compile the research.
The trade is made up of counterfeit cigarettes, mostly from China, legitimate cigarettes smuggled in to avoid duty and tax evasion on cigarettes made for Britain.
There are also so-called ‘illicit whites’ – illegal cigarettes made specifically for being smuggled into the country.
In the first quarter of last year, 10.6 per cent of all cigarettes were illegal – a figure that rose to 14.9 per cent by the end of 2011, according to research by cigarette manufacturers including Philip Morris and Imperial.
Smugglers can make about £1.65million from bringing in a container of 10million counterfeit cigarettes. Each packet is made for just 20p and they have been found to contain substances such as asbestos.
Some £25million has been spent by the government on tackling the illegal tobacco trade.
