In a globally coordinated sting by the World Customs Organisation involving 101 Customs administrations, 729 million cigarettes, 287 000 cigars, and 250 tonnes of other tobacco products were seized from March 1 to April 31 this year.
Branded GRYPHON II, the operation focused on Customs controls associated with shipments of tobacco products – including clearance processes, checks on duty-free outlets, free zones, bonded warehouses, as well as express and postal shipments.
The confiscated items included genuine branded cigarettes, counterfeit cigarettes, and cigarettes from brands categorised as ‘cheap whites’. Components of machines used to manufacture cigarettes were also seized along with bulk cash and more than 12 million excise duty stamps.
Moreover, eight illegal tobacco factories were dismantled, over 50 criminals were arrested and several investigations are still ongoing in an effort to disrupt and break down criminal networks behind this trade.
The analysis of the seizures indicates that smugglers used sophisticated concealment methods by camouflaging illicit tobacco products in a variety of cover loads, including scrap metal, furniture, sneakers, timber, cement, charcoal and plastic housewares. Many of these cover loads were often of low value and were used by smugglers to ensure the highest profit margin.
Operation GRYPHON II also confirmed a well-known fact that Free Trade Zones were used for illicit trade. Consignments travelling between free zones were reported to have been ‘lost’ or to have disappeared.
