Jump to full article: Kyiv Post (ua), 2009-04-07
Author: Stefan Candea, Duncan Campbell, Vlad Lavrov and Roman Shleynov of the International Consortium of Investigative Journali
Intro: s.
Europe is being flooded by smuggled Russian-made cigarettes worth at least $1 billion a year, an international investigation has discovered.
A network of factories and routes has been put together across Europe since 2004, following large-scale smuggling routes previously supplied by major multinational tobacco companies. The new underground smoking trade involves only one brand, Jin Ling, which is turning up in more cities and countries across Europe every month.
Jin Ling, virtually unknown to the authorities three years ago, has grown so rapidly that law enforcement officials say it now rivals Marlboro as the top smuggled brand being seized in the European Union.
The organization behind this fast expanding black market, the Baltic Tobacco Factory (BTF) of Kaliningrad, Russia, has links to two of the world’s largest tobacco companies. Its factory network in Russia and Ukraine was previously owned and run by subsidiaries of Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Group, the world’s number three producer.
The investigation has identified a network of Russian and East European companies, including five factories believed to play roles in manufacturing the contraband cigarettes being smuggled to the West. . . .
Jin Ling cigarettes have no legal market in any European country, according to customs officials. The brand is never advertised and cannot be bought in shops. It is only sold illegally — smuggled by gangs who hope to pocket immense profits by selling unlicensed, untaxed cigarettes on black markets across Europe.
“Jin Ling is the most disturbing new development anywhere in the world in the illegal tobacco trade,” according to Luk Joossens, a World Health Organization expert in tobacco smuggling. “They are flooding into Europe.” . . .
ICIJ’s team has pieced together the unique story of the world’s first-ever cigarette brand designed and manufactured only for smuggling. . . .
Baltic Tobacco Factory’s headquarters is in Kaliningrad, a slice of Russian territory annexed by the Soviet Union after World War II and wedged between Poland and Lithuania. The freewheeling Russian exclave is known as a hotspot for smuggling and organized crime. . . .
Both RJR, Kazakov’s former supplier, and Gallaher, BTF’s former home, are now part of Japan Tobacco International (JTI). JTI acquired RJR’s non-U.S. tobacco operations in 1999 and bought Gallaher in 2007. In 2004, BTF joined JTI — as well as Philip Morris — in forming the Moscow-based Tobacco Industry Development Council. The industry group’s stated intent was to lobby for more favorable taxes on filtered cigarettes.
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Quotes from this article:
Jin Ling
From the ICIJ story: "[T]the world’s first-ever cigarette brand designed and manufactured only for smuggling."
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