The ban aims to curb the country’s illegal cigarette trade and sellers will be punished with prison sentences of up to six years, reports the Daily Sabah.

The ban on the sale of hand-rolled cigarettes originates from a bill that was passed by the Parliament in June and marks the next step in fighting illegal cigarette trade. Since cigarette prices have been on the rise, more people have been turning to the hand-rolled alternative sold in tobacco shops, according to the Daily Sabah. However, it is difficult to trace the contents of hand-rolled cigarettes and a large number sold in the tobacco shops illegally contain high levels of cadmium and lead and other materials harmful to the health.
Turkey earns billions of Turkish liras from a special cigarette tax each year and the illegal sales of hand-rolled cigarettes inflicts losses on those earnings, according to the Daily Sabah.
Yüksel Denli, deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s Department of Tobacco and Alcohol, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the new regulations aim to prevent a yearly tax loss of about TL 9.5 billion ($1.4 billion). Retailers who continue to sell the now banned products face prison sentences of up to six years.