Dealers in illicit drugs are expanding into cigarette smuggling, the Associated Press reported in a story citing a revenue service official. One billion smuggled cigarettes were seized last year.

Seventy per cent of the seizures originated in neighbouring Zimbabwe and Dubai also was a source for illicit cigarettes, the AP reported. Cigarettes in Zimbabwe reportedly cost about one fourth what they do in South Africa.
“Well known organized crime figures have been moving away from investing in traditional illegal drug smuggling,” spokesman Adrian Lackey told the AP. (pi)