Sales of contraband tobacco are skyrocketing and now account for one in three cigarette purchases across the country, according to a new study by the tobacco industry.

The study, funded by the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council and conducted by independent market research firm GfK Research Dynamics, surveyed 2,046 adult smokers in May and June.
Among respondents, 32.7 per cent said they had purchased illicit tobacco products within the previous seven days – up from 22 per cent in 2007 and 16.5 per cent in 2006.
The police is trying to curb the illicit trade by seizing more and more contraband cigarettes each year. Industry leaders, however, say the seizures are merely drops in the bucket and want governments and police to target large-scale manufacturing plants on aboriginal reserves.
"It's important that you get to both the illegal manufacturing operations as well as the criminal networks that are taking these products off reserves and distributing them across Canada," Benj Kemball, president of Imperial Tobacco, said on Tuesday.
Industry officials and police say the vast majority of illegal cigarettes are manufactured on the American side of reserves that straddle the border in eastern Ontario and southern Quebec. They are then shipped up and down the Trans-Canada Highway in cars, vans and trucks.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announced a plan in May to target illegal manufacturing plants and disrupt distribution networks. (pi)