This UK Sunday Times report, dated 04/05/2025, highlights the scale and dangers of smuggled cigarettes into the UK.

This UK Sunday Times report, dated 04/05/2025, highlights the scale and dangers of smuggled cigarettes into the UK. Some £5-£6 billion of illegal tobacco is thought to be sold in the UK every year, a figure that is only about £3 billion less than government estimates for the value of the entire British narcotics industry. Fake versions of famous brands now make up 60% of the entire illicit tobacco trade.

Organised crime groups have targeted Britain because it has the third highest taxes on tobacco in the world, after Australia and New Zealand. In the UK about 80% of the cost of a packet of cigarettes is made up of tax. The fake products, typically sold for less than one-third of the cost of the legally imported authentic products, are often fraudulently labelled “duty free” in an effort to give them false legitimacy and to trick consumers into purchasing them. In fact, these goods have never gone anywhere near the duty free supply chain, which is one of the safest and most secure of any sales channel in the world.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/fake-cigarettes-trade-gj67p8qzn

The same edition of the Sunday Times also reported on the dangers of illicit alcohol, often laced with methanol, with a reference to the authenticity of products purchased in duty-free stores.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/if-schools-taught-dangers-of-methanol-my-friend-might-be-alive-dl0fvv8p2