Cracking down on cigarette smuggling

China’s customs and tobacco authorities destroyed 375,890 cartons of smuggled cigarettes said to be “worth” CNY22 million (US$3.6 million) in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong, on Tuesday, according to a China Radio International report.

The cigarettes were said to have included more than 30 brands, including Marlboro, 555 and Double Happiness.

They were shredded and then burned at a local power plant.

Unnamed officials were quoted as saying the destruction of the cigarettes illustrated China’s firm stance in abiding by the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

It also showed the country’s achievements in cracking down on the illegal trade in tobacco, they said.

Meanwhile, the vice minister of the General Administration of Customs, Lv Bin, said China had stepped up its fight against tobacco smuggling. Nationwide last year, 34 cases of smuggling involving 1.84 billion cigarettes “worth” CNY2.33 billion had been cracked.

He warned that cigarette smuggling would continue because it offered high levels of profit, but said that Chinese authorities would continue their crackdown on the trade.