Sars hunts down cigarette smuggling syndicate

‘Export’ container reveals illegal stash LEONARD NEILL TWO CONTAINERS apparently destined for Dubai which arrived at a Spoornet holding area at Durban’s Bayhead recently have posed a series of questions for South Africa’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA). NIA operatives pounced on the containers when they became curious about why they had not been directed to the container terminal, which is normal practice for export consignments. Once opened they were found to contain more than 40 000 cartons of illegal cigarettes. Of additional concern was the fact that the Beitbridge customs stamp and other export documents were found to be false, while the clearing agent was non-existent. NIA, South African Revenue Service and other law agencies have mounted a large-scale hunt to track down the kingpins of a syndicate involved in the spiralling multi-million rand smuggling industry. “No duties and taxes are charged on cigarettes destined for export,” says Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay. “This encourages the syndicates to pretend to ship them for distribution to local markets.” A further investigation is under way to establish how the syndicate obtained the use of a unique diamond stamp which is issued only to registered manufacturers of South African cigarettes. “There are only 10 such stamps in South Africa,” says Lackay. “Others are issued by embassies in countries that also produce S A cigarettes, like Malawi and Zimbabwe.” A person said to be the owner of the containers has been taken in for questioning, but the search is on for the syndicate heads. Several people have been arrested for smuggling cigarettes through border posts and warehouses in Gauteng in recent months.