Illegal Pathways to Illegal Profits: The Big Cigarette Companies and International Smuggling

Abstract

Each year approximately 400 billion cigarettes, or one-third of all legally exported cigarettes, end up illegally smuggled across international borders. Cigarettes are the world's most widely smuggled legal consumer product. This report adds to the growing volume of evidence that firmly establishes that the legal manufacturers of these cigarettes have knowingly fostered and have consciously supported the illegal smuggling of their own brands.

Keywords: cigarettes, tobacco, smuggling, illicit trade, Marlboro, Philip Morris, British American Tobacco

JEL Classification: F23, H26, I18, L66