Seized counterfeit cigarettes end shredded at recycling plant

Some 1.6 million counterfeit cigarettes were destroyed by the Customs Department yesterday, nearly two years after they were seized from a container heading for Libya.

The fake 'Winston' cigarettes, originating from China, were shredded at the Marsascala recycling plant.

Customs officials explained that the delay between intercepting the cigarettes and their actual destruction was due to the lengthy legal process.

There is more cigarette destruction ahead after Customs officials last month seized a container laden with seven million counterfeit cigarettes during a routine check of containers in transit at the Freeport.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Customs Department and Central Cigarettes Ltd last year to jointly fight the trade of contraband and counterfeit cigarettes, which costs the government Lm1 million in lost revenue every year.

Counterfeit traffic is the fastest growing, most damaging form of tobacco contraband.

JT International, a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco, the world's third largest international manufacturer of tobacco products, which include the Winston brand, yesterday heaped praise on the work carried out by the Customs authorities.

In a statement, JTI said that by distorting legitimate markets, illicit traffic in cigarettes tricks consumers into buying poor quality products which violate most safety standards and defraud governments of the fiscal revenue of the legitimate trade.

A spokesman for JTI said that contraband in and from EU accession countries made a joint approach by governments even more necessary.

It was important to understand, as confirmed by industry analysts, the unintended consequences of EU enlargement, which will create an enormous demand for smuggled products from lower-taxed areas.

Recent cooperation between JTI and the relevant authorities in Europe and the Middle East led to the elimination of an international contraband ring and the closure of a $20 million modern production facility in Dubai in April, 2003.