The Thai Customs Department has intensified its crackdown on tax-evading goods, seizing more than 27.3 million foreign cigarettes and 205,445 e-cigarette units worth an estimated 169.6 million baht ($5.4 million) between October 2025 and mid-February 2026. Director-General Phanthong Loykulnunt said smuggling networks have shifted to “ant-worker” tactics, moving contraband in small parcels via private couriers and concealing goods in commercial lorries to evade checkpoints, prompting authorities to deploy handheld X-ray scanners nationwide. Major operations included a Central Thailand raid with Mae Klong Customs that uncovered 12.5 million cigarettes valued at 62 million baht ($2 million), seizures worth 36 million baht ($1.2 million) in Songkhla and Tak Bai, and a Bangkok raid in Khan Na Yao district that netted hybrid e-cigarettes and IQOS devices worth 10 million baht ($320,000). At Bangkok Port, Customs and the Department of Special Investigation inspected seven overdue containers, discovering over 46,000 disposable vapes hidden among legitimate cargo.
Tag: smuggling
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Cigarette Smuggling Dominating Hong Kong Customs
Cigarette trafficking made up roughly three-quarters of all smuggling investigations handled by Hong Kong’s Customs and Excise Department in 2025, as overall smuggling cases climbed 24% year over year to more than 38,000, the department reported. Authorities recorded over 29,000 cigarette-related cases, up 36%, leading to more than 28,000 arrests, while total seizures remained steady at about 600 million sticks.
Officials said organized networks increasingly used cross-border travelers — including attempts to conceal cigarettes in clothing, wheelchairs, and strollers — with a 41% rise in passengers exceeding the city’s duty-free limit of 19 cigarettes. Meanwhile, illicit drug cases declined 29% to 961, although total drug seizures increased 19% to 7.5 tons, and the estimated value of all seized smuggled goods reached HK$4.2 billion ($546 million).
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Greece Busts Major European Illicit Cigarette Ring
Greek police dismantled a highly organized criminal network that had been producing and exporting illegal cigarettes across Europe since 2018, causing state losses exceeding €7 million. In a large-scale operation on January 6, 300 officers raided multiple locations, arresting 26 suspects, including the alleged leaders, while investigating two additional individuals. Authorities said the group operated illegal factories and warehouses, used counterfeit packaging, relied on coded communications and strawmen to conceal identities, and handled finances largely in cash. Police seized 14.4 million cigarettes, 20 tons of processed tobacco, €1.2 million in cash, vehicles, weapons, and electronic equipment. The network reportedly shipped products to several European countries, including Slovakia, and suspects now face charges linked to organized crime, smuggling, money laundering, and arms violations.
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Brother of Israel’s Security Chief Accused of Smuggling Cigarettes
Last week’s indictment against Bezalel Zini, brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini—the head of Israel’s security agency—has cast a spotlight on a sprawling tobacco smuggling network supplying the Gaza Strip, a trade that authorities say has expanded sharply during the past two years of war. Yigal Wynne, CEO of the Federation for Intellectual Property, said attempts to smuggle cigarettes into Israel and onward to Gaza have surged, driven by a sharp increase in truck traffic entering the enclave. Dozens of trucks carrying cigarettes, loose tobacco, hookah tobacco, and e-cigarettes are estimated to reach Gaza each month, often routed through the West Bank or the Palestinian Authority, where goods are stored and organized before being smuggled onward.
Wynne said the economics of the trade make it highly attractive to criminal and terrorist groups, noting that a single 40-foot container of cigarettes that costs smugglers $100,000 can be worth up to $10 million once sold in Gaza. Cigarettes sourced from Egypt or manufactured in the West Bank—particularly brands such as Capital and Imperial—are sold at price markups of as much as 80%, generating large cash revenues with relatively low legal risk compared with drugs or weapons. While current attention is focused on Gaza, Wynne warned that Israel’s domestic tobacco black market remains substantial, accounting for an estimated 20% of cigarette sales, underscoring broader challenges around illicit trade and enforcement.
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Smuggling Convictions Upheld by Lithuanian Court
The Lithuanian Court of Appeal upheld convictions against two former Lithuanian customs officers and two Belarusian nationals for smuggling more than 3 million packs of Belarusian cigarettes into the country, confirming the lower court’s ruling and rejecting appeals. The case, investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, found the defendants operated as part of an organized criminal group that bypassed customs inspections using insider assistance, causing an estimated €10 million in damages. The court also upheld a civil claim requiring the defendants to repay more than €9.7 million, although total fines were reduced from €300,000 to about €266,000 following criminal code amendments. The defendants have three months to appeal to Lithuania’s Supreme Court before the ruling becomes final.
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PM India Fighting Illicit Trade with Intelligence
Illicit cigarettes are not a new problem in India, but they are one that continues to grow, Navaneel Kar, managing director of Philip Morris India, told Statesman News Service. According to Euromonitor International, India is now the fourth-largest market for illegal cigarette consumption in the world after China, Brazil, and Pakistan. To get an idea of how big the problem is, Kar said PM India carried out a large intelligence-gathering exercise in 2025 that covered more than 3,000 shops across 10 states. By also engaging with more than 50 government stakeholders, the goal was not just observation but building reliable intelligence that could, in turn, support enforcement agencies and policy discussions.
Public reports indicate enforcement agencies seized smuggled cigarettes worth about ₹600 crore ($7 billion) in FY25, with data from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence showing the North-East as the largest hub for seizures, followed by Maharashtra–Goa, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.
PM India said it is supporting the government’s rollout of a Track & Trace system for tobacco products, drawing on global experience from markets where digital tagging of cigarette packs is used to improve supply-chain visibility and curb illegal trade. The company also “supported capacity-building efforts for over 145 officers from customs and tax departments,” according to Stateman News Service.
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Cigarette Balloons Cause Poland to Summon Belarus Envoy
Poland has summoned Belarus’s charge d’affaires after dozens of meteorological balloons carrying untaxed cigarettes crossed into Polish airspace from Belarus, in what authorities described as mass smuggling attempts. The Polish Foreign Ministry said border guards and police recovered balloon debris and cigarette shipments—some carrying up to 1,500 packs—in several eastern regions, including near the Belarus border and in Białystok. Warsaw warned Minsk that it does not consent to such actions and said further incidents would have consequences, while questioning Belarus’s claim of having no knowledge of the operations. Polish media reported around 150 such balloon incidents to date.
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Japan Makes First ‘Zombie Cigarette’ Bust
A 31-year-old Thai woman was arrested in Japan for allegedly smuggling etomidate—commonly referred to as “zombie cigarettes”—into the country via Kansai International Airport, marking the first etomidate-related enforcement case at the airport since the drug was added to Japan’s controlled substances list in May last year. Osaka Customs said the suspect allegedly brought 1,002 cartridges containing about 500 grams of etomidate from Thailand in November, concealing them inside seven snack packets in her suitcase. She was traveling with a Malaysian man who was also arrested and indicted on separate charges for allegedly smuggling stimulants into Japan.
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Hong Kong Man Gets 6 Months for Smuggling 40K Alternative Products
A man was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment today (January 20) for illegally importing 40,000 alternative smoking products into Hong Kong. The Department of Health said the products, including e-cigarettes and heated tobacco items, were intercepted in his luggage on arrival from Guangzhou, and the sentence serves as a strong deterrent.
Since tougher tobacco control amendments took effect in September 2025, the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office has prosecuted 15 similar cases, with 17 offenders jailed for up to six months. Authorities reiterated that importing, selling, or possessing alternative smoking products for commercial purposes is illegal and punishable with fines up to HK$2 million ($260,000) and seven years imprisonment.
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Nepal Confiscates 16K Illicit Vapes at Mountain Border
Nepalese authorities seized e-cigarettes valued at Rs 22.4 million ($155,000) at the Korala border, underscoring continued enforcement against illegal vape trade. The Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, and Mustang Customs Office intercepted a container carrying 16,000 vape units on Monday (January 12) evening, with the driver taken into custody and the vehicle impounded. The seizure follows a similar operation last year at the same transit point—a high-altitude crossing point with China’s Tibet Region—where vapes worth Rs 68.1 million ($470,000) were confiscated, highlighting persistent smuggling activity along the border.