The annual smuggling of two to three billion cigarettes into Pakistan from Afghanistan and Iran is costing the kitty around Rs1.5 billion every year, a tobacco industry source said Friday.
The source said that inefficiency and connivance of customs officials deputed at ports and the country s borders with Afghanistan and Iran with smuggler were to blame for the huge revenue loss.
He said the law allowed sale of only those cigarettes that carried approved pictorial health warning on packets.
He however, said local markets were flooded with cigarette packets without mandatory pictorial health warning.
This clearly shows these brands are smuggled into the country causing huge losses to exchequer through massive tax evasion.
The source said despite repeated crackdowns by the government on their dealers, smuggled cigarettes were selling in the market without let or hindrance.
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