וויאזוי איז דער # אָולף פייטינג יליגיט פּאַפּיר מאַרק?

The illicit trafficking of tobacco is a multibillion-dollar business today, fuelling organized crime and corruption, funding terrorism and robbing governments of much needed tax money. So profitable is this trade that tobacco is the world’s most widely smuggled legal substance. This global phenomenon, results in an annual loss of more than €10 billion in public revenue in the EU alone.

A KPMG study commissioned by RUSI last year, analyzing the cigarette smuggling in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland, revealed that in 2016 more than 9% of all cigarettes consumed in Europe were illegal. Amounting to 48 billion cigarettes, five countries – France, Poland, UK, Germany and Italy – accounted for more than 62% of all illegal consumption in Europe.

The EU anti-fraud agency, OLAF, just recently released its annual report where it spells out its latest efforts to combat a lucrative trade that stretches from counterfeiters in China and renegade factories in Russia to Indian reservations in New York and warlords in Pakistan and North Africa.

The report, which was also presented in-depth at a news conference by outgoing acting director general Nicholas Ilett, pointed out OLAF has a “unique investigative” mandate to fight tobacco smuggling into the EU. The 57-page report says some 545 million sticks of cigarettes were seized with the support of OLAF in 2017, with 76 million sticks more than in 2016.

An important part of the research and investigation conducted by OLAF has been devoted to the illegal activities of tobacco smuggling in Montenegro, which already has huge problems of illegal trade of tobacco in its Free Trade Zone located in the port of Bar. OLAF “has been paying particular attention to vessels loaded with significant quantities of cigarettes in the port of Bar in Montenegro, which were destined mainly for Libya, Egypt, Lebanon and Cyprus, and which found their way into the EU contraband market.” Eight vessels and their relevant cargo of cigarettes loaded in the port of Bar have been seized for smuggling in Greece and Spain since the beginning of 2015. In total, almost 350 million cigarettes were seized on these vessels, corresponding to nearly €70 million in customs, excise and VAT duties.

The European Commission is also supporting the custom authorities in the port of Bar to tackle the inflow of illicit UAE tobacco products.

After an inquiry into the illicit activities in the area, the OLAF spokesman said: “Montenegrin customs have provided good cooperation in relation to a large number of consignments of cigarettes in transit though the port of Bar. As a result of investigations and of mutual assistance requests, OLAF identified a number of companies operating in the Free Zone of the port of Bar that could be considered as suspicious. Based on these findings, Montenegrin Customs carried out checks of the companies authorized to operate in the Free Zone of the port of Bar with the aim of verifying if these were acting in accordance with the national legislation.”

אַדווערטייזמאַנט

It should be noted that last year the Montenegrin government has decided to create a new Free Trade Zone in Podgorica that includes a tobacco factory.  A member of the Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee said: "Taking into consideration the results of the latest report, OLAF should be proactive and keep a close eye on the transactions carried out in Podgorica so the results from Bar are not repeated. Let’s not wait for the inflows of smuggled cigarettes to start before the authorities take action."

The report also gives the example of tobacco smuggling by air from the United Arab Emirates, saying that, in July 2017, for example, OLAF provided the Spanish Customs with information on a suspicious airfreight cigarette shipment from the UAE, destined for Barcelona El Prat Airport. As a result, 1.8 million cigarettes were seized.

OLAF, according to the report, also helped halt smuggled cigarettes carried by passengers arriving into the EU. Investigators worked closely with individual member states and conducted several checks at major airports, which resulted in the combined seizure of more than 1 million cigarettes.

Another problem area, it says, is tobacco smuggling into the EU territory by road from third countries such as Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. The report, which covers the period 1 January to 31 December 2017, says the 'JCO Magnum II' operation, which was coordinated by the Estonian Customs Administration and OLAF with the involvement of fourteen Member States, Europol and FRONTEX, led to the seizure of roughly 20 million cigarettes. Ilett, who is stepping down from the post of DG, said that smuggled cigarettes are a threat for national budgets and health policies.

שער דעם אַרטיקל: