China Seizes 7.35 Bln Counterfeit Cigarettes in First 11 Months

Source from:  Xinhua 12/24/2008

A total of 7.35 billion counterfeit cigarettes were seized nationwide from January to November in China, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) said Tuesday. Law enforcement agencies raided 2,912 counterfeit cigarette warehouses and rounded up 6,068 people in connection with the false brands, prosecuting 3,056 people, said STMA deputy head Zhang Hui. He added law enforcement agencies also solved 6,208 cases, each of which involved more than 50,000 yuan (7,309 U.S. dollars). The 7.35 billion counterfeit cigarettes had an estimate street value of 4.1 billion yuan. In the same period, China's tobacco industry generated 430 billion yuan in taxes and profits, up 18.1 percent from the same period last year, according to the STMA. China's tobacco industry generated 388 billion yuan in taxes and profits last year and, by calculation, tobacco industry taxes and profits accounted for about eight percent of the country's fiscal revenue in 2007. Enditem