HE illegal trade Tobacco is still on the agenda in the world. During the siege of crops by the public nicotine Because of its negative effects on health, tobacco industry calls for coordinated efforts by the Administration to reduce counterfeit trade and reduce taxes on products as a way to make the industry less attractive to international criminal organisations. And the illegal tobacco trade attracts organized crime because it is profitable and carries less risk than drugs or other forms of contraband.
Despite the fact that coordinated police activity in recent years has managed to somewhat mitigate the impact of aggression, Selling fake tobacco in SpainCompanies in the industry have reactivated their influence on European governments to increase police repression and reduce taxes as a way to profit from the mob and encourage legal consumption. According to consulting firm Ipsos, consumption of tobacco from illegal trade in Spain fell to 6.7% last year, the lowest percentage since 2011, due to a change in consumer habits. At the same time, more police repression and illegal production centers that tended to proliferate in Europe and especially in Spain were liquidated.
a meeting held in Brussels by Euraktiv This Tuesday showed that tobacco remains one of the most important things. cornerstones of international crimeof cocaine, fentanyl smuggling, or the importation of illegal drugs. The UN has calculated that, according to the World Bank, illicit trade means about two million dollars in losses per year, of which 50,000 million is tobacco alone. Between approximate figures and risky estimates, the truth is, large multinational tobacco companies They have to adapt to times of change, with conventional cigarette consumption falling in favor of electronic cigarettes and increasing public pressure from tobacco’s harmful effects on health. According to a KPMG report, the estimated illicit consumption in the EU in 2021 is approximately 35 billion illicit cigarettes. All are tax-free (eg 80% of the price in France and slightly less than in Spain) and are an important source of income for organized crime.
For Juan Carlos Buitrago AriasFormer Brigadier General of the Colombian National Police and currently head of advisor StrategosBIP, Tobacco is at the center of the international organized crime trade because it is profitable and carries little risk. Major production centers are in Asia (mainly China, but it is also trying to expand production in Europe), but management of the network is in Panama, the global epicenter of the illicit product, according to Buitrago. and “from where criminal organizations are run all over the world”. This expert describes the illicit tobacco world as a “criminal ecosystem” that threatens both the industry and consumers by distributing lower quality and more harmful products.
in your opinion Nicolas OtteThe global head of Philip Morris International’s Anti-Trafficking Operations division, the police strategy in Spain made it possible to reduce the impact of illicit tobacco, unlike in France, where high tax burdens and high prices make counterfeit products more common. Cheap weight gain in the market. “Reducing taxes and increasing police repression is absolutely necessary,” Otte says, as a sensible way out. fighting the mafia. The price of a pack of cigarettes in France is around 10 euros, while in Spain it is under 6 euros.
The world’s largest transnational tobacco companies are known as the ‘Big Four’ and include Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco International (JTI) and Imperial Brands. China National Tobacco Corporation is the world’s largest cigarette manufacturer, but is a government-owned enterprise and serves its own market. The major tobacco lobby is concerned with improving its public image and claims that its products are less harmful to health than illegal tobacco of undetermined origin and zero quality control.