Black market booming

Stuff reports:

An Auckland man hid more than four million undeclared cigarettes in Gib board pallets. …

Customs investigations manager Cam Moore told Stuff this conviction is further evidence that it’s not just organised criminal groups who see large-scale tobacco smuggling and money laundering as a profitable crime.

Moore said the high retail prices for cigarette and tobacco products makes New Zealand a lucrative market.

Ng’s case is another example of large-scale tobacco smuggling.

Government policy has led to this huge black market. The tax increases have pushed the price up to a lvel where the black market is booming.

And sadly future Government policies look set to do the same. If you ban people from legally being able to purchase regulated and taxed tobacco, they will turn to the black market to buy unregulated and untaxed tobacco.