R4 million cigarette smuggling racket busted.

Smuggling of cigarettes from Zimbabwe into South Africa through illegal crossing points along the Limpopo River, always a problem because of the tax differences, increased dramatically from the beginning of April when South African lockdown regulations banned cigarette sales.

Authorities estimate that around 30 percent of cigarettes sold in South Africa are smuggled from Zimbabwe including Pacific, Remington gold, Mega, Dullahs, Branson and Servilles brands.

This has been a problem for some time because the South African Customs Union taxes tobacco at much higher rates than Zimbabwe, opening arbitrage possibilities for smugglers.

The ban on tobacco sales under the South African lockdown just made supplying the black market even more profitable, so more people became involved. But a crackdown on both sides of the border has seen more than 30 people arrested in the last fortnight, and the seizure of cigarettes worth an estimated R4 million.

https://www.herald.co.zw/r4-million-cigarette-smuggling-racket-busted/