Study: One in five UK cigarettes now illegal

ONE IN FIVE cigarettes smoked in the UK is either manufactured illegally or smuggled into the country, new figures reveal.

A surge in production of counterfeit cigarettes in the UK, feeding the habits of cashstrapped smokers, has led to the rise in illegal consumption, with 20 per cent of cigarettes smoked across the whole country now illegal.

This means they were either smuggled in or produced in illegal factories. The proportion rises to one in three in the north east of England.

An annual report by KPMG, which looks at consumption and flows of illicit cigarettes across 30 European countries, said the UK ranks second for the volume of illicit cigaother rettes consumed, behind France, despite being in the bottom third for prevalence of smokers. The report, commissioned by tobacco company Philip Morris International, said across all the countries the consumption of fake products had increased by 34.1 per cent in 2021, topping three billion cigarettes for the first time since the study began 16 years ago.

Illicit cigarettes are made in makeshift illegal factories with little or no quality controls and health and safety.

Run by organised crime groups and often using slave labour, the cigarettes can contain dangerous substances such as asbestos. A Philip Morris spokesman said: “The consumption of counterfeit and contraband cigarettes in the UK rose by 4.2 per cent in 2021, the biggest annual rise of the last five years.

“This increase was fuelled by counterfeit cigarettes in particular, which are now the most prevalent form of illicit cigarette in the UK.

“Criminal groups have shifted focus to manufacturing counterfeit cigarettes within the EU.

“Interviews with seven different law enforcement agencies found illegal manufacturing sites are moving west to get closer to the higherpriced end markets, such as the UK and France.”

Will O’reilly, a former Scotland Yard DCI, said: “Illicit cigarettes fall way short of the quality and safety standards UK smokers expect.

“They pose a risk to people’s homes in terms of house fires and they’ve been found to contain mites, insect eggs, fungi and even faeces.”