A total of 7.35 billion counterfeit cigarettes were seized nationwide from January to November in China, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) said.

Law enforcement agencies raided 2,912 counterfeit cigarette warehouses and rounded up 6,068 people in connection with the false brands, prosecuting 3,056 people, said STMA deputy head Zhang Hui.
He added that law enforcement agencies also solved 6,208 cases, each of which involved more than CNY 50,000 (EUR 5,282). The 7.35 billion counterfeit cigarettes had an estimate street value of CNY 4.1 billion.
In the same period, China's tobacco industry generated CNY 430 billion in taxes and profits, up 18.1 per cent from the same period last year, according to the STMA.
China's tobacco industry generated CNY 388 billion in taxes and profits last year and, by calculation, tobacco industry taxes and profits accounted for about eight per cent of the country's fiscal revenue in 2007. (pi)