Cigarette smuggling

Cigarettes found hidden in concrete blocks

Cigarette smuggling is the illicit transportation of cigarettes from an administrative division with low taxation to a division with high taxation for sale and consumption. The practice, commonly used by Organized crime syndicates and rebel groups, is a form of tax evasion.^[1]

Ireland

In Ireland the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a designated terrorist organization, smuggled cigarettes to raise money for attacks.^[1]

Montenegro

In the Former Yugoslavia, Montenegro was known for being a haven for cigarette smuggling into Italy.

United States

In the United States each of the fifty states tax cigarette packs at a different price. In 1992 states charged an average of 25 cents. By January 2002 that average increased to 45 cents. Six months later states, trying to compensate for budget deficits, raised their cigarette taxes to an average 54 cents. According to John D'Angelo of the U.S. government's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), there is a "direct relationship between the increase in a state's tax and an increase in illegal trafficking." This is true with all psychotropic substances, the more the state tries to repress the trade with a legal or illegal substnce, the higher the prices and with them the profit margins become, which leads to an increase in illegal trafficking, and in the case of complete crimininalization of a substance also to unknown purity levels of the substance, which leads to an increase in fatal overdoses and costs for the health system. The U.S. government foiled funding operations by Al Qaeda in New York in 1999 and Hezbollah in North Carolina in 2002.^[1]

It has been reported that smuggling one truckload of cigarettes within the United States can lead to a profit of US$2 million.^[2]

See also

• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
• Human trafficking
• Illegal drug trade
• Organized crime
• Rum running

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Bruce Bartlett (2002). "Cigarette Smuggling". National Center for Policy Analysis. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba423/. Retrieved 2007-12-30. 
2. ^ Cigarette Smuggling Linked to Terrorism

External links

• Database of Cigarette Smuggling Activities around the world.