Reese explains cigarette loopholes

Commissioner of Customs, Major Richard Reese, says there are several loopholes which makes the illegal importation of cigarettes into the country very difficult for customs officials.

Finance and Public Service Minister, Audley Shaw, last week declared that although some 800 million sticks of cigarettes are consumed annually in Jamaica, the Government is only able to collect taxes on half that amount.

Illegally imported cigarettes are sold openly and cost between 60 – 70 per cent of the cost of legally imported cigarettes.

There are three importers of cigarettes in Jamaica.

“The importers also face challenges in terms of counterfeiting of their brands and that is why we are exploring the whole business of tax stamps or tax markers. In addition to that we also have leakage through the domestic market in terms of duty free shops. We have leakage both in terms of illegal imports and smuggling and also leakage through the domestic markets where cigarettes would have been brought in by a private bonded warehouse keeper and sold on the domestic market,” he said.

Reece said the Customs Department has been putting in place measures to stem the flow of illegally imported cigarettes into the country.

“We have increased our surveillance, also our cargo targeting and our imaging of the various containers that are scanned in addition to intelligence,” he said.

He said the Customs Department’s Contraband Enforcement Team also works closely with the police to target persons who sell the illegally imported cigarettes