Sri Lanka customs hands over 3 million smuggled cigarettes for destruction

COLOMBO, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka Customs has transferred approximately 3 million cigarettes confiscated during the first half of 2024 at Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for destruction, state media reported on Monday.
The estimated street value of the cigarettes handed over to the Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) for destruction exceeds 75 million rupees (250,000 U.S. dollars), said the report.
If these cigarettes had reached the Sri Lankan market, the South Asian country would have lost roughly 480 million rupees (1.6 million U.S. dollars) in duties and other levies, according to the report.
The cigarettes were primarily smuggled by passengers arriving by air, said the report.
CTC, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT), holds the monopoly of cigarette and tobacco sales in Sri Lanka, where cigarettes are subject to high taxation. ■