During South Africa’s strictest national lockdown, a ban on alcohol and tobacco fanned the fires of a large and lucrative black market for cigarettes. The South African National Treasury data show the government lost R9.5bn in alcohol and tobacco taxes in the first four months of the 2020 fiscal year. A report funded by the country’s Tobacco Institute showed that two years before the ban, the country already had one of the world’s largest illicit markets for tobacco products. In December last year, a SARS official and two accomplices were charged with corruption and defeating the course of justice over a seized truck and contraband, which was allegedly cleared to pass over the Beitbridge border crossing from Zimbabwe. The contents of that truck were estimated to be worth R10m. On Sunday, more Remington Gold cigarettes were seized, this time the load was worth R13m. Tax Justice SA founder Yusuf Abramjee says the bust is proof of the findings released in a report by Ipsos, which
Truck driver caught smuggling cigarettes worth more than R1m in Springs 19 April 2021 - 12:12 Image: EMPD
A truck driver from Zimbabwe was arrested for smuggling illicit cigarettes worth more than R1m in Springs in Ekurhuleni at the weekend.
Ekurhuleni metro police spokesperson Thabiso Makgato said the driver was arrested after the truck was pulled over on the N17 offramp on Saturday afternoon.
The arrest was made during Operation Kurhula.
Makgato said the truck was loaded with boxes of illicit cigarettes worth more than R1m.
The driver is expected to appear in the Springs magistrate’s court soon to face charges of possession and possibly dealing of illicit cigarettes.
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE seizure of a truckload of illegal cigarettes reportedly from Zimbabwe underlines the war raging between criminal operators in South Africa’s illicit tobacco trade.
Authorities confirmed the seizure of the cigarettes valued at R13 million (about US$914 000) this past weekend.
The seizure came in the same week as a major independent survey reported that illegal cigarettes were now on sale in three out of every four retail outlets in South Africa’s hotspot provinces.
Yusuf Abramjee, founder of Tax Justice SA (TJSA), said the truck seized was proof, on a massive scale, of the report’s conclusion that the company manufacturing the cigarettes in question were in a price war with criminal members of the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) for control of the illicit market.
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