News analysis
Bhutan: a bellyful for the police
d.simpson@iath.org
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
For places to conceal contraband cigarettes, the coffin found to contain 3000 packs in Poland seemed imaginative, if somewhat macabre (Tobacco Control 2004;13:10). But in Bhutan, where the sale of tobacco, as well as its public use, was banned in December 2004, a booming market of smuggled cigarettes seems to have led to even more bizarre hiding places for illegal supplies.
Hard pressed customs officials in Bhutan say smuggling is especially difficult to control in their country, not just because it is mountainous and sparsely populated, but also because people from all walks of life are involved. Many ordinary people are lured into taking the risk by irresistible rates of profit, not only from importing, but also from moving cigarettes internally: a recent report cited a sixfold mark-up on cigarettes smuggled from the capital to a region only one days drive away. But matching the wide
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