• Regional Director of Crime Stoppers: “Urgent measures must be taken to eliminate the illicit trade in tobacco products.”
•Tightening laws and banning products creates parallel markets, and legitimate channels must be found to trade alternative products.
Ammon – The spread of illegal cigarette smuggling has increased globally. This was confirmed by a new study conducted by Nielsen, showing the worsening of this phenomenon in Panama, for example. It witnessed an increase in cigarette smuggling activity by 92.1% compared to 87.9% in the third quarter of 2021, and 79.9% in the fourth quarter of the same year, making it an expressive example of what the world is witnessing.
In his comment on this matter, the Regional Director of Crime Stoppers in the Caribbean, Bermuda and Latin America, Alejo Campos, said that the scourge of cross-border cigarette smuggling has negative economic, health and security impacts, noting that addressing and controlling it requires taking urgent measures to eliminate it. Illicit trade in tobacco products, indicating that although the State of Panama has tightened legislation and regulations to combat the spread of tobacco, it is witnessing an increase in rates of tobacco consumption due to cigarette smuggling.
Campos added that e-cigarettes in Panama are sold in gyms and through social media networks and others, which is behind the increase in illegal activities in the tobacco trade, not only within Panama, but throughout the entire continent, pointing out that tightening laws in the local market Officially, it always creates illicit parallel markets.
Regarding the economic impact of the illicit cigarette trade, Campos stressed that estimates indicate that the State of Panama loses more than $100 million annually in tax revenues due to these illicit businesses. From a security standpoint, Campos pointed out that this illicit trade involves money laundering crimes and corruption operations, stressing that these operations come within the framework of “transnational criminal rapprochement,” which is linked to terrorist organizations that use cigarette smuggling as a means of obtaining money in a low-risk way. To finance its terrorist operations and activities.
Campos explained that reducing the number of smokers requires developing comprehensive public anti-tobacco policies that go beyond simply approving an increase in taxes imposed on tobacco manufacturers and distributors, adding that in the absence of these comprehensive policies, it will facilitate the acquisition of smuggled cigarettes and increase the volume of consumption in the illicit market.
Campos pointed out the health effects of the spread of smuggled cigarettes, as studies analyzing these types of products have shown that 75% of them contain pieces of wood, and most of them do not comply with quality standards or monitoring during the manufacturing and distribution process, noting that the chains of distribution of smuggled cigarettes It relies on secret rings, far from official frameworks, to be traded hidden inside vehicles transporting other products, or buried inside damp warehouses, which increases its exposure to pollution and causes various diseases.
According to the report issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 2020, the global economy bears losses amounting to $2.2 trillion annually due to illicit trade, or approximately 3% of the global economy. The report indicated that if trade were illegal, An illicit country would have an economy larger than the economy of Brazil, Italy, or Canada, and the size of the economy of Mexico and Indonesia combined, stressing that illicit tobacco trade represents between 10% and 12% of global tobacco consumption, and its size is estimated at up to 600 billion illicit cigarettes. Legal.
The Regional Director of Crime Stoppers for the Caribbean, Bermuda and Latin America, Alejo Campos, called for the need to work to combat the spread of tobacco and the illicit trade in its products side by side, by intensifying the processes of prosecuting criminals, confiscating their assets, and increasing the penalties and fines imposed against them. Allowing legal channels for the dissemination of low-risk alternative products; Such as electronic cigarettes and others that are scientifically proven and subject to market regulation.
