INB 2

La contrebande cause de plusieurs milliards d'Euros de pertes fiscale pour les pays de l'Union Européenne

La lutte contre le trafic international de cigarettes de contrebande et de contrefaçon a fait l’objet, le 21 octobre, d’une conférence opérationnelle internationale organisée sous l’égide de l’Office européen de lutte antifraude (OLAF) et des autorités douanières maltaises.

Cette conférence était destinée à consolider les relations opérationnelles entre les États membres de l’UE et des pays tiers.

Waves of smuggled cigarettes produced in Kaliningrad flood Europe

An investigative story (and video) published this day by the Guardian:  "It shows that the Baltic Tobacco Company (BTC), apparently Russian-owned, is manufacturing on a large scale a previously obscure cigarette brand called Jin Ling. The firm based in Kaliningrad is selling them by the container-load to smugglers at 20 US cents a packet. Smuggled Jin Ling, resembling the US Camel brand in appearance, are coming to light across Europe from Lithuania to Venice" ...

"Jin Ling is the most disturbing new development anywhere in the world in the illegal tobacco trade," said Luk Joossens, a World Health Organisation specialist. "They are flooding into Europe."

Image from Cigarettespedia