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Tag: illicit

  • Tobacco Retailer Fined $13M Under Wisconsin’s New Vape Law

    Tobacco Retailer Fined $13M Under Wisconsin’s New Vape Law

    Wisconsin regulators imposed some of the largest penalties yet under the state’s new vape-sales restriction law, fining Exclusive Tobacco nearly $13 million and issuing a separate $450,000 penalty to Green Bay–based Dave’z Smoke N Vape. The Department of Revenue said Exclusive Tobacco’s Oshkosh location was found selling vape products not included on the state’s approved directory and operating with an expired municipal license. Inspectors seized 1,244 illegal vapes, and because the law carries a $1,000-per-device-per-day penalty, the fine totaled more than $12.4 million. A follow-up inspection triggered an additional $431,000 fine. Both cases are under appeal.

    The state has stepped up enforcement since the law took effect September 1, issuing 42 removal orders and conducting 27 product seizures, including actions against shops operating without valid licenses. Regulators say the directory system—allowing only 303 approved products—is intended to standardize the market and reduce youth access. Store owners counter that the rule has wiped out much of their inventory, with some retailers reporting severe losses, employee layoffs, and even store closures.

    A legal challenge is underway, with the industry group Wisconsinites for Alternatives to Smoking and Tobacco appealing a federal judge’s refusal to block the law. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals began hearing arguments this week, and a ruling is expected early next year. Shop owners argue the law unfairly benefits large tobacco companies, while state officials maintain it is a measured approach to regulating a rapidly expanding market.

  • Queensland Shuts 148 Stores, Seizes $10.4M in 10-Day Blitz

    Queensland Shuts 148 Stores, Seizes $10.4M in 10-Day Blitz

    Queensland authorities closed 148 stores and seized more than A$15.7 million ($10.4 million) worth of illegal smoking products in a 10-day enforcement operation that ended last week. Dubbed Operation Major, the blitz targeted illicit cigarettes, loose tobacco, vapes, vaping liquids, and nicotine pouches, resulting in the confiscation of 11.8 million cigarettes, 1.7 tons of loose tobacco, 87,000 vapes, 4.2 liters of vaping liquid, and 270,000 nicotine pouches.

    The closures were executed under new laws allowing Queensland Health to shut stores for 90 days without a court order. Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the operation demonstrates the state’s commitment to cracking down on illegal tobacco and vaping products, warning that black-market operators will be aggressively pursued.

    Theo Foukkare, CEO of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, welcomed the move but noted that illicit traders are shifting online due to federal inaction on illegal tobacco. He emphasized the need for coordinated national measures to redirect consumers to the regulated market.

  • Imperial Canada Urges Action as Illicit Pouch Surge

    Imperial Canada Urges Action as Illicit Pouch Surge

    Imperial Tobacco Canada called on the federal government to act quickly against a growing illicit market for nicotine pouches, following a CBC investigation that found widespread illegal sales in stores and online. The company says a recent Ministerial Order requiring legal pouches to be kept behind pharmacy counters has backfired by pushing consumers toward unregulated, higher-nicotine products sold without age checks.

    “By restricting access to regulated products, the policy has driven consumers straight toward unmonitored, illegal alternatives,” said Eric Gagnon, Imperial’s vice-president of corporate and regulatory affairs. He warned that these illicit pouches often lack quality controls and pose risks to public health, especially for youth.

    Imperial echoed public health expert David Hammond’s call for stronger enforcement, including proactive retail inspections, but said enforcement alone is insufficient. The company argues that allowing approved cessation products to be sold in convenience stores and gas stations—where adult smokers already shop—would help cut demand for illegal alternatives. Imperial’s ZONNIC, the only pouch authorized by Health Canada, is limited to 4 mg of nicotine and must meet strict standards, unlike the illicit products now proliferating across the market.

  • Bangladesh Uncovers Major Cigarette Tax-Evasion Scheme

    Bangladesh Uncovers Major Cigarette Tax-Evasion Scheme

    Bangladesh’s National Board of Revenue (NBR) says a raid on United Tobacco Industries Limited in Ishwardi, Pabna, uncovered the equivalent of Tk 90 million ($738,000) in tax-evaded products. Investigators said that despite the company having VAT registration, it was secretly producing and marketing cigarettes without showing formal production activities.

    Authorities seized 634,590 cigarettes carrying fake banderoles—worth more than Tk 3.8 million ($31,000)—linked to nearly Tk 2.9 million ($24,000) in evaded government revenue. They also recovered 1.03 million unused fake banderoles, which the NBR says could have enabled more than Tk 85 million ($697,000) in additional tax losses.

    All materials have been confiscated, legal action is underway, and the VAT Commissionerate will tighten oversight of the company’s operations, the NBR said.

  • Extent of Australia’s Illicit Tobacco Crisis Coming to Light

    Extent of Australia’s Illicit Tobacco Crisis Coming to Light

    Australia’s illicit tobacco trade is believed to be nearing double the size of the legal market, with excessive excise rates driving a surge in smuggled cigarettes, illicit tobacco and e-cigarette commissioner Amber Shuhyta warned. She told the Senate that estimates of black-market products may be approaching 65% of all tobacco sold, fueled by retail cigarette prices approaching A$50 ($33) a pack. Smuggled packs sell for about A$15 ($9.90), pulling revenue away from legitimate retailers and the federal budget.

    Legal tobacco sales are collapsing, she said. Supplier Metcash reported a 35% drop in sales over the six months to October, while Australia’s tobacco tax take has fallen from 0.8% of national income to below 0.3% in five years—creating a A$69 billion ($45.5 billion) budget shortfall.

    Meanwhile, organized crime groups competing for control of the illegal tobacco and vaping market have been linked to murders, extortion, and hundreds of fire bombings nationwide. Border Force Commissioner Gavan Reynolds said officers seized more than 2.5 billion cigarettes last financial year and intercepted 439 tons of loose tobacco, worth an estimated A$4.4 billion ($2.9 billion) in evaded duty. He said enforcement now targets the supply chain “before the border, at the border, and post-border.”

  • Korea Busts Cigarette Smuggling Operation

    Korea Busts Cigarette Smuggling Operation

    Seoul Regional Customs referred three people to prosecution for smuggling packs of cigarettes and falsifying customs declarations to evade taxes. Authorities said the suspects re-imported 1.75 million exported cigarette packs by claiming they were being sent to a third country, while concealing the goods in a warehouse in Busan and declaring shipments as water bottles and newspapers. The scheme reportedly avoided around 6.1 billion won ($4.2 million) in taxes.

    According to The Korea Times, the ringleader, already on trial for a similar smuggling case, had amassed significant assets, including a high-value Seoul apartment, which authorities have seized in coordination with prosecutors.

  • Pakistan Seals Two Cigarette Factories for Illicit Trade

    Pakistan Seals Two Cigarette Factories for Illicit Trade

    Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) sealed the manufacturing units of M/s Indus Tobacco Company and M/s Souvenir Tobacco Company in Mardan for “producing and circulating non-duty-paid and non–track-and-trace-stamp (TTS) cigarettes,” marking a historic enforcement action against politically connected operators, according to The Dawn. During raids, 62 cartons of illegal cigarettes were seized, and the manufacturing machinery of both companies was locked. Authorities confirmed that the crackdown targets the growing illicit cigarette market, which is estimated to cost Pakistan Rs. 250–300 billion ($900 million to $1.1 billion) annually in lost revenue.

    The operations were conducted by the Directorate of Intelligence & Investigation–IR Peshawar and officers from the Regional Tax Office Peshawar despite resistance from armed personnel linked to prominent local politicians. According to Pakistan’s Business Recorder, the factory closings happened “despite extraordinary pressure by a prominent political personality,” and included “apparent threats to the FBR officials.”

    The actions form part of a multi-layered national enforcement plan, backed by the Prime Minister and the Pakistan Army, aimed at dismantling illegal cigarette production, strengthening monitoring systems, and disrupting illicit supply chains. Over 200 FBR monitors and 120 Pakistan Rangers personnel have been deployed nationwide to oversee production, ensure lawful removal of goods, and prevent illicit manufacturing at Green Leaf Threshing units. The FBR emphasized that no political pressure would deter the enforcement of tax laws, highlighting the unprecedented sealing of factories previously protected by political influence.

  • Spain Probes Tobacco Smuggling Via Drones

    Spain Probes Tobacco Smuggling Via Drones

    Spanish authorities have launched an investigation into drone-led tobacco smuggling in La Línea after several devices were spotted near Gibraltar Airport, disrupting flights and forcing an RAF aircraft to divert to Portugal. According to Europa Sur, Spanish agencies have detected a sharp rise in smuggling groups using drones to bypass both the land frontier and traditional maritime routes. Customs officials say they are now coordinating with multiple enforcement bodies to counter the tactic.

    In London, Gibraltar representative John Cortes raised the issue with UK Minister of State for Defence Lord Coaker, highlighting the airport’s increasing exposure to drone incursions. The Royal Gibraltar Police, the MOD, and local aviation authorities have been investigating illegal drone activity for several months, as cross-border smuggling operations evolve.

  • Counterfeit Tobacco Makes up 50% of Cambodian Market

    Counterfeit Tobacco Makes up 50% of Cambodian Market

    Tobacco industry experts in Cambodia warn that the presence of illicit products in the market are increasing at “an alarming pace,” climbing close to 50% of the market, closing in on neighboring Malaysia’s 60% in the Asean region. The scale of the problem is measured through discarded cigarette pack surveys, which reveal a growing trend of untaxed and unregulated products.

    Representatives say that the government is losing more than $38 million annually in tax revenue, noting that the true impact is even greater as the legal industry’s growth is stifled. Authorities destroyed 70 tons of counterfeit cigarettes last year, seizing 23 types of illegal products from a factory inside the Kingdom.

  • Cyprus Kiosk Owners Ask for Tobacco Exemption

    Cyprus Kiosk Owners Ask for Tobacco Exemption

    Kiosk owners in Cyprus urged the finance ministry to seek an exemption from the EU’s planned tobacco tax hike, warning the measure would devastate small businesses and fuel smuggling across the island’s divide. Under the directive due in January 2028, cigarette prices would rise from €4.70 to €7 per pack, rolling tobacco from €7 to €13, and, for the first time, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and nicotine pouches would be taxed, effectively doubling their prices.

    The kiosk owners’ association, Sykade, told parliament’s commerce committee that half of kiosk revenues come from tobacco sales. It estimates 126 million cigarettes and 162 tons of tobacco are already smuggled annually from the north, costing the state at least €50 million in lost tax revenue. With 600 kiosks closed in the past decade, Sykade warned further hikes would mean closures, unemployment, and declining state income.

    Cyprus has one of Europe’s highest smoking rates at 34%, compared to the EU’s goal of reducing prevalence below 5% by 2040.