780,000: That's how many illegal cigarettes are smoked in Notts every day
A FLOOD of fake and smuggled tobacco fuelled by organised crime means about one in four cigarettes now smoked in Notts is illegal.
More than 780,000 counterfeit or smuggled fags are smoked every day across the county.
The scale of the problem has emerged as trading standards officers seized 54,000 fake and smuggled cigarettes in two Nottingham raids this week.
The huge hauls – collected in two locations which have been kept secret – more than doubled a running total for an operation which began in June.
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Trading standards, Notts Police, Customs officers and Imperial Tobacco are all investigating smuggled and fake cigarettes in Notts.
Colin Wragg, head of UK corporate and legal affairs for the tobacco company, said: "The problem ranges from, for example, an air stewardess bringing 500 back to sell to her friends, to organised crime groups, some from Eastern Europe, China, the Middle East.
"Illegal sellers also don't care who they sell to – there are many who sell it to children."
Imperial Tobacco says a quarter of cigarettes smoked in Notts in the last three months of 2012 were illegal – up from 15 per cent the previous year. The increase is being put down to people buying cheaper cigarettes because of increases in duty on legal cigarettes.
City trading standards manager Jane Bailey said: "The operation is going well – we're getting a lot of information in".
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by smshogun
Friday, February 08 2013, 5:27PM
“Earl:
From memory a few shops in Nottingham were caught with fake fags and they tested them and found asbestos in them.”
by KAF49
Thursday, February 07 2013, 11:38PM
“Can we assume that those making an income at this lucrative game are all paying their taxes and their own house rent?”
by Total Look
Thursday, February 07 2013, 11:26PM
“History has shown that making something illegal (as in drugs, or alcohol in the US prohibition), or attempting to tax it into oblivion (as in tobacco in UK), simply encourages the smugglers and the organised mobsters.
Make everything legal at a reasonable price, and we will all live happily ever after, without getting gunned down in the crossfire of two rival gangs.”
by Earl_Manvers
Thursday, February 07 2013, 11:06PM
“sorrry, posted that last one under the wrong topic, humble apologies. I will slink off to my bed in shame :(”
by Earl_Manvers
Thursday, February 07 2013, 11:03PM
“If anyone's interested, here's another fine example of the excellent result of the Conservative controlled Westminster Council implementing housing benefit cuts by accommodating families in 4 star hotels.
http://tinyurl.com/cvgwcs8”
by Earl_Manvers
Thursday, February 07 2013, 8:10PM
“Just to clarify it's not just about getting the genuine product without paying duty; there are actually a good few actual counterfeit ciggies for sale in the UK. As if the genuine jobs were not bad enough, pirated fakes have extra cadmium, lead and arsenic in them. I seem to recall that one Chinese underground manufacturer was even padding out the product with asbestos.”
by smshogun
Thursday, February 07 2013, 6:05PM
“This issue hinges on taxation and if the taxes were lowered it would eradicate the smuggling market and the Government would receive 100% of the tax and duty. It would save the country £millions if not billions in various costs to the numerous investigating bodies and allow them to move manpower to other investigative areas, and save a fortune in keeping prisoners caught and convicted of these activities in prison.
It would appear that a common sense approach needs to be taken and this would appear to be to lower the tax rates to a level where smugglers find they have no profit from smuggled or counterfeit cigarettes, and they would pack up overnight; problem solved.”
by victormildew5
Thursday, February 07 2013, 11:49AM
“cigarettes will kill you and now that smokers know this is the case i dont think it really matters how long they take to kill you and so the most important thing to most people is the price. Interesting that this story calls non duty paid cigs illegal..if my kind aunty mavis brings me 200 from her holidays are they illegal? No they are not.”
by Trev8
Thursday, February 07 2013, 11:22AM
“And the Government are wanting to have plain packets, won't that make it easier for fake ones.
The smokers probably don't want to see bad looking photos on the packet.”
by soraya
Thursday, February 07 2013, 9:37AM
“They are not fake, they just don't have UK duty paid due to the high taxes here.”