Tobacco.org

Romania cracks down on tobacco smugglers 

Ten people forming an orderly queue in front of a man who does not at first sight appear to be selling anything have attracted the attention of a policeman at Obor, one of Bucharest’s busiest marketplaces.

As the officer approaches, the man melts into the crowd. “I wish he hadn’t turned up. I really wanted to buy those cheap cigarettes,” says a disgruntled engineer in the queue.

Following recent tax rises, sales of contraband tobacco products have soared in Romania, the second largest smoking market in central east europe, after Poland.

Smuggled cigarettes accounted for 36 per cent of the €2.89bn market in the first two months of this year, according Novel Research, a research company.

Austin Rowan, head of the cigarettes task group at the European Anti-Fraud Office, says the unit is monitoring the situation in Romania “very carefully”.

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