"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
The leaf merchant was not impressed with our suggestion to track down a cigarette counterfeiter in Paraguay and interview him for an upcoming article in Tobacco Reporter about the illicit tobacco trade.
"You'll never find one. And even if you do, they will kill you."
Good. That confirms our idea has legs.
We will travel to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay to find an illegal trader and visit some legitimate manufacturers en route to get their perspectives.
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Salta city center, March 2008
Noel is publisher of Tobacco Reporter
Taco is editor of Tobacco Reporter
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Exposing the illegal cigarette trade
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Featured photo
Salta city center, March 2008
About this blog
It's hard to exaggerate the harm caused by smuggling and counterfeiting.
Governments miss out on tax revenue, legitimate manufacturers suffer lost sales and damage to their reputations, and consumers end up with inferior products.
What's more, the profits from smuggling and counterfeiting provide seed money for other illegal activities such as organized crime and terrorism.
Eager to better understand the illegal cigarette trade, Tobacco Reporter's Noel Morris and Taco Tuinstra will travel to the tri-border area where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet.
The tri-border area is believed to be South America's busiest contraband and smuggling center.
Follow their adventures in this blog.
Governments miss out on tax revenue, legitimate manufacturers suffer lost sales and damage to their reputations, and consumers end up with inferior products.
What's more, the profits from smuggling and counterfeiting provide seed money for other illegal activities such as organized crime and terrorism.
Eager to better understand the illegal cigarette trade, Tobacco Reporter's Noel Morris and Taco Tuinstra will travel to the tri-border area where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet.
The tri-border area is believed to be South America's busiest contraband and smuggling center.
Follow their adventures in this blog.
About Noel
Noel is publisher of Tobacco Reporter
About Taco
Taco is editor of Tobacco Reporter
Our trip
View Larger Map
Click on the placemarkers to view photos taken at those locations. Zoom in and zoom out using the plus and minus symbols like you would on any Google map.
2 comments:
Counterfeit cigarette production is rare and occurs with one or two manufacturers in Paraguay.
Trading with them only provides encouragement and is not recommended.
Contrary to popular belief it is not a crime to manufacture cigarettes and clearly some good amount of those produced in Paraguay end up in Brazil. Why?
The border is porous, so porous that if it is plugged in one place it leaks in another. If the trade was completety controlled in Paraguay it would move to bolivia where the border is really porous.
But this is not the reason. The fundamental cause is tax. Brazil's cigarette tax at around 80%. It is one of the highest in the world and is unprecedented for a developing nation. It hikes cigarette prices from $2 (in Ciudad del Este - Paraguay)a carton to around $17 (in Brazil.)
You do not say what experience you have in enforcement. I hope you have an expert with you although I doubt this because anyone who is good would not take inexperienced 'passengers'. What you are attempting to do may seem exciting but could also be foolhardy. If you speak to people then these people may become targets. Counterfeiting is less common that tax evasion smuggling. Both are highly lucrative and attract the worst form of criminals, no better than drug barons and they can be just as violent. You should pay attention to what your leaf merchant advised you.
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