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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri

Time: 12:25 pm

Results for smuggling cigarettes

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Author: Power, Gerald

Title: Illicit Tobacco in South East London: A Survey of Smokers

Summary: The illicit tobacco trade is often seen as a 'Robin Hood' type enterprise with a few locals smuggling cigarettes for their friends so they can enjoy an otherwise expensive luxury. However, if this was ever true, the reality of this trade is now is very different. Criminal gangs are very heavily involved in the illicit tobacco trade and the majority of the illicit cigarettes sold are counterfeits manufactured outside the EU specifically to be smuggled into the UK in bulk. One sea container full of counterfeit cigarettes can generate well over a million pounds in profit for a gang. Also heavy tobacco consumption is now strongly associated with deprivation rather than being a luxury enjoyed by richer communities. This can be seen in all six South East London Boroughs where smoking rates for routine and manual workers within boroughs are consistently much higher than the borough averages. Furthermore, as national and regional levels of smoking and smoking related diseases fall as a result of taxation, education , support in quitting and laws limiting where people can smoke, illicit tobacco has the potential to maintain heath inequalities in communities. In recognition of this Health and Trading Standards Teams have been working together in South East London as part of an initiative to reduce the harm done by illegal tobacco in these communities. This work is aimed at joining up health and trading standards enforcement work to get the best outcomes for communities. In simple terms, if the supply of cheap illicit tobacco in to a community can be stemmed, then the investments in health and education work produce a far better set of outcomes. Limiting the trade also limits the presence of the criminal gangs that manage it. This survey of one thousand seven hundred smokers within the boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark was part of that joint work and aims to better understand the illicit tobacco trade and help in finding better ways of dealing with it.

Details: London: South East London Illegal Tobacco Cluster, 2013. 32p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 2, 2016 at: https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/ssh-illicit-tobacco-survey-report.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United Kingdom

URL: https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/ssh-illicit-tobacco-survey-report.pdf

Shelf Number: 139950

Keywords:
Counterfeit Cigarettes
Illegal Tobacco
Organized Crime
Smuggling Cigarettes
Tobacco Smuggling