COVID-19 TOBACCO SMUGGLING AND COUNTERFEITING IS BOON FOR ORGANISED CRIME

  Covid-19 has reshaped commercial crime, and one lucrative offence taking a real turn for the worse is tobacco smuggling and counterfeiting. Keith Nuthall reports.   The Covid-19 pandemic has depressed incomes worldwide and forced lower income smokers to look for cheap smokes, which has included counterfeits or smuggled goods. As a 2020 report from Japan Tobacco International (JTI) said: “The current pandemic crisis creates conditions that are set to form a ‘perfect storm’ that will find some consumers inadvertently, and others willingly, ...


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