Taking the fight to cigarette smugglers

The financial impact of contraband and counterfeit cigarettes due to unpaid customs duties as well as unpaid taxes such as value added taxes and excise duties is immense: 10 billion EUR, some figures indicate up to 12.5 billion EUR that are lost to national and EU budgets each year. Smuggling does not only concern counterfeit but also genuine cigarettes that are smuggled into the European Union (EU). A single container of smuggled cigarettes causes an average loss of customs duty and value added tax of about 1.5 million EUR. The financial damage for countries with higher taxes on tobacco products such as the United Kingdom is even more severe.

http://www.neurope.eu/blog/taking-the-fight-to-cigarette-smugglers/