The Non-chinese Chinese Cigarette made to be smuggled

There is a fascinating report from International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Center for Public Integrity about the cigarette smuggling business: here. There is just too much to highlight, so read their full investigation, it is worth the read.

There are a couple of article that paint Asia as a central piece of the trade. You can take a look at the shipping routes for cigarette smuggling in this pdf from the American Cancer society.

There is a cigarette brand called Jin Ling that is manufactured with the explicit intent of being smuggled. From Made To Be Smuggled:

[...] 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.

Originally imported from China, Jin Ling features a king-size packet design that closely resembles the legal Camel brand in color, typestyle, and layout. Instead of a camel, the packs are illustrated by a mountain goat.

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.[...]

It turns out that the cigarette is manufactured in the Baltics, in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad:

[...]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.[...]

Now for the profits….

[...] To investigate the Baltic Tobacco Factory, ICIJ reporters went undercover and visited its Kaliningrad plant in June 2008. Posing as smugglers setting up a new route to the EU, they carried concealed video and recording equipment.

[...] Their price per container: $102,500 (£59,000 or €73,000) — about one cent per cigarette. If the contents of one container reached Sweden or Germany and were sold at full legal price, they would be worth $3.2 million (€2.3 million). In Britain or Norway, where cigarette taxes are high, the same shipment would be worth nearly $6 million (€4 million). Even at half the price — which black market cigarettes usually sell for — the profits would be immense.[...]

Read the full article! More highlights tomorrow.