Tobacco industry report says smuggling crackdown will fail
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• by Guy Sheppard A £209m government crackdown on tobacco smuggling will fail to deter the criminal gangs which dominate this illegal trade, according to the latest report.
It says the tobacco black market is now worth an estimated 22.5bn a year, making it second only to drugs in terms of consumer spending on illegal activities.
The government crackdown, announced in the last Budget, includes spending up to £44m on special X-rays for scanning trailers and contain ers for tobacco. These will be moved from port to port. Nearly 1,000 extra staff are to be recruited as well.
Customs & Excise says 1.6 billion cigarettes were seized last year—less than 10% of the total identified in the report.
A Customs' spokeswoman says: "The biggest problem is not vans coming in on crossChannel ferries. Probably around three-quarters is coming in 40ft containers from China, South Africa, Dubai and Egypt."
The report, commis sioned by the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association, says the government response lacks the necessary bite to put an end to tobacco smuggling".
It warns that a package of measures will be needed to eliminate the black market, which should include reducing the tobacco tax differential between the UK and Continental Europe.
The scale of criminal activity and the government's failure to deal with it are breathtaking," says TMA chief executive David Swan.