Loose cigarette sales cost $1,000

Tobacco product sellers in Fiji have been warned to adhere to licensing conditions or face a spot fine of $1,000, according to a story in The Fiji Times.

Speaking at the Nadogo district meeting at Nasasa Village, Wainikoro health inspector Simeli Tuiteci reminded village headmen that the sale of loose cigarettes was illegal and could attract a $1,000 fine.

Tuiteci said the offence of selling loose cigarettes was most common in villages in the West, where perpetrators were charged every week for either selling loose cigarettes or for the unlicensed selling of cigarettes.

But he warned his audience that a Tobacco Control Unit would begin monitoring villages in the North.

The unit, he said, was made up of enforcement officers empowered under the Tobacco Control Act to deal with illicit operators.

However, once the perpetrators were caught, they would be handed over to the police because such sales constituted illegal acts.