Foreign national (38) to appear in Pretoria Magistrate’s Court for dealing in illicit cigarettes

A 38-year-old foreign national was expected to appear at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, January 18.

The man is facing charges of dealing in illicit cigarettes in a Wonderboom supermarket.

According to police spokesperson Warrant Officer Johan van Dyk, police received a tip-off about a suspicious business owner suspected of smuggling cigarettes.

“The team, supported by the SAPS K9 unit, including the Department of Home Affairs and Tshwane metro police, followed up on the information and proceeded to the address at Wonderboom Street in Pretoria North,” Van Dyk said.

He said upon arrival at the suspect’s shop, the police found a large quantity of illegal cigarettes at the store with an estimated value of R60 000.

The government has been struggling to deal with the illicit trade of cigarettes for a while now, which has been on the verge of collapsing the local tobacco economy.

According to the British American Tobacco South Africa (Batsa), the illegal tobacco trade in South Africa makes up 70% of the market.

At the same time, independent research puts the illegal trade at 54%. The research also showed that though multinationals such as Batsa did lose a big chunk of their business to illicit trade during the 2020 Covid lockdown tobacco ban, their sales bounced back again, although not quite to what it was before.

Van Dyk further said that as part of the police programme of dealing with crime and criminals, five more suspects were arrested for various offences, which included drug possession and being illegal immigrants.

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