LETTER: Smoke over smuggling

The Tobacco Institute of SA (Tisa) is supposedly concerned about the illicit trade in tobacco and is holding a meeting in Cape Town to address the issue (SA leads Africa in illicit trade in tobacco, November 19). Tisa would be well advised to look at the plank in its own members’ eyes before looking for specks in the eyes of others.Independent experts estimate that the level of cigarette smuggling in SA is much lower than is claimed by Tisa and, more important, that the cigarette companies themselves fuel smuggling.Last week, UK tax authorities fined British American Tobacco (BAT) £650,000 (R11.2m) for allegedly facilitating smuggling into the UK.