UK Tobacco Companies Facilitate Smuggling
The Big Issue, 2-8 October, 2000
An investigation by The Big Issue South West has revealed that two of the UK's main tobacco companies are facilitating smuggling by exporting cigarettes to countries where almost no-one smokes them.
By Andy Rowell and Rich Cookson
Our investigation has shown that the two companies, Gallaher and Bristol-based Imperial Tobacco, are exporting billions of cigarettes to countries where British brands are bought but rarely smoked. These cigarettes then enter an illegal chain, ending up being smuggled back into the UK and onto the black market. The smuggling epidemic is so great that nearly a third of cigarettes smoked in the UK are illegal, costing the British taxpayer in excess of £2.5 billion every year.
While the exports are entirely legal, there is mounting evidence that the companies are actively fuelling smuggling. This year, Customs and Excise expects to seize a record two billion illegal cigarettes. So far, the majority of seizures are cigarettes manufactured by Imperial. Just two Imperial brands, Regals and Superkings, account for over half a billion seized cigarettes this year.
"It is very suspicious that Regal and Superkings, mainly smoked in the UK, are transported to several countries apparently with no reason," said a spokesman for the EU Anti-Fraud Office. Some of the export countries, such as Cyprus, are on smuggling routes identified by anti-fraud officers. The fags are often transported on to the Baltic, Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East, before being smuggled back to the UK.
Imperial documents identify "significant opportunities for profitable growth" in the Baltic States and Balkans, which were also highlighted last week by UK Customs as burgeoning smuggling routes.
This news comes on the eve of an announcement by the Department of Trade and Industry about whether another company, British American Tobacco, will face an investigation into cigarette smuggling. Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco are to be questioned by Customs officials about their exports, and these new revelations could force the DTI to widen its smuggling inquiry to include both companies.
A spokesman for Imperial said: "What we are doing is legal, but the law is being broken at some point. We have thought long and hard about smuggling and we don't believe there is anything more that we can do".
Andy Rowell
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