Jump to full article: Kuensel Online (bt), 2005-08-17
Author: Gopilal Acharya
Intro: Sherub Dema (real name withheld), a housewife married to a civil servant working in Bumthang, recently made a visit to Thimphu. She took back a small consignment of cigarettes and chewing tobacco, purchased in the black market.
A packet of cigarette she bought in Thimphu for Nu. 30 will sell in Bumthang for as much as Nu.180. A packet of Baba chewing tobacco, costing Nu. 5.00 in Thimphu, fetches about Nu. 20 in Bumthang.
“I was enticed by the clean profit one can make if you are willing to take chances every now and then,” she told Kuensel.
The National Advisory Committee on Tobacco Control would call this a part of a smuggling racket that has emerged after the ban on the sale of tobacco products that came into effect on December 17, 2004.
The smuggling network seems to be flourishing even with the constant vigilance and frequent raids made by a multi sectoral task force monitoring the market.
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