Eighteen million counterfeit cigarettes went up in smoke this week when customs and excise officials burned the contraband on a farm in Cato Ridge.

It was the biggest such operation in South Africa's customs history. The consignment, which had a street value of R 15 million, was seized about two months ago after a ship from China tried to smuggle the goods into the Durban Harbour.
Customs and excise anti-smuggling group manager Deon Smith said on inspection at the examining depot, the vessel was found to contain "misdeclared" goods. "In documents submitted, the goods were declared as biscuits. But once we inspected the boxes, we found only the first four rows had biscuits and the rest were all counterfeit cigarettes," he said.
Smith said South Africa was a popular destination for illegal cigarettes because the duty rate was higher than in neighbouring countries. "From this consignment alone the revenue service would have lost R 10,7 million. South Africa's cigarette consumption is also higher than in our neighbouring countries."
According to Smith, illegal cigarettes are mostly sold to street vendors, tobacconists and liquor outlets looking to make easy money. "If a normal packet of cigarettes is being sold to consumers for less than R 10,50 the chances are high the correct taxes have not been paid and the cigarettes are illicit," he said. (pi)