Illegal cigarette imports seized

LEONARD NEILL THOUSANDS OF boxes of illegally imported cigarettes have slipped through customs control at South African border posts recently but border police have stepped in to prevent them from reaching local markets. Members of the border police, accompanied by SA Revenue Service officials and those from the Tobacco Institute of South Africa, pounced on a Benoni warehouse last week and seized the entire consignment with an estimated street value of R3.5m. The raid followed weeks of police surveillance following a tip-off that fake cigarettes were being stored in the facility. No machines for the manufacture of the cigarettes were found on the premises, said North Rand police spokesperson Superintendent Sophie Mayisela. “All we found were thousands of boxes containing the cigarettes”.