News: UK Smuggling

To a background of calls from ASH etc to add two euro to the price of cigarettes in Ireland, the current high price has driven huge demand for smuggled cigarettes which are bought in bulk. Read on ……

Irish Examiner – 31 August 2006

Customs seize 500,000 drugs, €250,000 cash and 350,000 cigarettes
By Cormac O’Keeffe
CUSTOMS officers at Dublin Airport have seized 500,000 worth of drugs, €250,000 in suspected criminal cash and 350,000 contraband cigarettes over the last 10 days.

In a series of separate operations, some involving international law enforcement agencies, six people were arrested and charged for suspected drug importation. They included a mother and daughter who had smuggled 1.5kg of cocaine between them internally. In the most recent operation, on August 28, Customs officials seized 90,000 cigarettes, valued at almost €30,000. The cigarettes had arrived from Prague and were described as machine parts. Two Lithuanians were questioned and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. Customs sources suspect the smuggling operation is part of a highly organised scam operated by criminal gangs from the Baltic States. “The cigarettes are being imported by organised gangs from the Baltic states, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and probably Poland, but particularly Lithuania and Latvia.”

Customs officers say there is “a huge amount of money to be made” by smugglers, given that the retail price of a pack of 20 cigarettes is 94 cent in Latvia and €1.30 in Lithuania, compared to €6.35 here.

Smugglers and fraudsters dealing in tobacco, alcohol and oil cheated the taxman out of ?3.75bn last year.

According to MPs, the scale of smuggling in hand-rolled tobacco is “shocking” and “out of control”.

While recognising progress made by Customs, a parliamentary report due to be published later, said figures remain “unacceptable”.

Cigarette smuggling continues to cost the Government ?1,900m, and counterfeit cigarettes are a growing problem which threaten both revenues and public health.

The MPs also expressed surprise that although China is the biggest single source of counterfeit cigarettes destined for the UK, there was only one UK Customs officer, based in Hong Kong, covering the whole country.

Committee chairman Michael Fallon – the Tory MP for Sevenoaks – said: “Although Customs have made some progress in tackling the problem, losses from excise duty fraud are significant and remain at an unacceptable level.

“Customs’ own figures show that excise duty fraud and smuggling is costing some ?3,750m-a -year in lost revenue.

“Customs’ strategy for tackling tobacco smuggling appears to be having an effect on illicit cigarettes, but with revenue losses running at ?1,900m-a-year, there is still a long way to go.”

March, 2005
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