The Head of the Division of Tobacco and Cigarettes at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) Ibrahim Embaby claims that traders are manipulating the price of cigarettes, reports the Egypt Independent.

Embaby says that market traders are illegally manipulating the price of cigarette packs which is creating a black market that must be stopped. He said that the problem is made worse by the fact that the market is not supervised enough allowing merchants to stockpile large quantities of cigarettes, reports the Egypt Independent.
Embaby also called on customers to check pricing themselves by adding the tax tariff from the government to the price tag on the cigarettes.
“There is a barcode on every pack of cigarettes. The citizen has his mobile phone. He is supposed to scan the barcode, so he will see the lot number, the price of the pack, and the date of production,” he explained. “When the seller comes asking for a higher price than what appears on the barcode, he [the buyer] should call 122 (the police), or the express number for consumer protection agency, to report the seller immediately,” Embaby continued adding: “If only one person exercised his rights as a consumer, this phenomenon would end completely.”