Man bust with 5 million illegal cigarettes

Man bust with 5 million illegal cigarettes
2011-10-14 21:07

Related LinksMore cigarette smugglers caught at border
Ethiopian arrested with contraband
R5m illegal cigarettes found in Benoni


Johannesburg - About five million contraband cigarettes have been discovered in Delmas, Mpumalanga, the Tobacco Institute of SA (Tisa) said on Friday.

They were found in the possession of a trader on Monday, said chairperson Francois van der Merwe in a statement.

Police arrested the man, who could face a fine of R20 000 or five years’ imprisonment.

"This bust follows a host of interventions by both the SA Revenue Service and SAPS officials during September, which saw over 160 million illegal cigarettes confiscated," Van der Merwe said.

Tisa shreds confiscated illegal cigarettes using custom built hammer mills before ploughing them into landfill sites.

Van der Merwe said 15 million contraband cigarettes were being sold daily, depriving the economy of about R3bn per year.

Consumers should be suspicious if a box of 20 cigarettes sold for less than R14.50, or had nicotine readings higher than 12mg of tar and 1.2mg of nicotine.

Such cigarettes often did not have health warnings on the packaging, Van der Merwe said.


- SAPA

Read more on: tisa | mbombela | crime