UK: Smuggling Spike in Cigarettes

Source from:  Lancashire Evening Post (uk)  04/15/2013

Plain packaging on cigarettes could fuel the illicit tobacco trade in Lancashire and kill the county's corner shops.

That was according to speakers at a conference on illicit tobacco discussing a rise in tobacco smuggling.

Jeremy Blackburn of Japan Tobacco International said standardised packaging, a Government idea to try to put young people off smoking, would make the profit margins of countefeiters far higher, meaning they could sell fake tobacco at cheaper prices, affecting legitimate shops.

Delegates agreed the trade in cities like Preston and Rochdale, where the conference was held, had become "brazen", with shop customers openly going into off licences and demanding cheaper counterfeit tobacco products.

Jeremy said: "Many years ago it was seen as a very, very dark trade, but now the threshold has changed, it seems people are brazenly walking into shops asking for it."

The Evening Post launched the Don't Let Them Make A Packet campaign in December to tackle the issue of illicit tobacco in Lancashire's communities.

Kate Pike, of Trading Standards North West, said intelligence from the community and retailers was vital in tackling the issue.

Guests included representatives from the Evening Post, the tobacco industry, Trading Standards and shopkeepers. Enditem