RAWALPINDI: The Customs in collaboration with Ganjmandi police on Sunday confiscated a sizable quantity of smuggled cigarettes with a street value of Rs8 million.

A police spokesman said a joint raid by Customs and police was conducted in Ganjmandi and smuggled cigarettes stored in a warehouse were seized.

The government had recently increased taxes on cigarettes in an attempt to discourage smoking, and the illegal trade of cigarettes which was a major source of revenue loss for the government.

The spokesman said the police raid came after a tip-off from a resident of the area, adding that the cigarettes were found packed in boxes and ready for sale. The cigarettes were all foreign brands not brought through legal channels, he said.

Police have detained the warehouse’s owner and are investigating how the cigarettes were brought into the country illegally.

Health advocates argue that the Federal Board of Revenue’s Track and Trace system had effectively limited illicit trade to below 15pc. They recommend that all companies adopt this system to reap further benefits.

Activists have insisted that every budget season, the tobacco industry exploited the issue of illicit trade to prevent increase in tobacco taxes.

These companies deliberately understate their production and sell unreported products on the black market, resulting in billions of losses for the national treasury, an anti-smoking activist stated.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2023