Smuggling of tobacco products must be addressed by leaders

Over the past couple of weeks, the Sri Lanka Navy together with the Police Narcotics Bureau took into custody several hauls of beedi leaves or tendu – floating off the Northern and North Western coasts of Sri Lanka. Hundreds of kilogrammes of leaves are discovered during every detection and these receive some mention over radio news broadcasts and press but hardly stir real interest in this current milieu dominated by happenings in the local political sphere.

Thousands of kilogrammes of beedi leaves are found smuggled across the strait from India every year and the numbers are growing. But there is very little interest from officials as the beedi industry is deemed a cottage industry that does little harm to public health and the economy. However, this is far from reality and the smuggling of tendu leaves is merely the tip of an iceberg that is the illicit tobacco industry in Sri Lanka running into billions of rupees.

As alluded to before, the beedi industry constantly falls under the radar as officials keep dismissing it as insignificant in addition to being the poor man’s fare. In March this year, over 1,400 kilogrammes of tendu were detected off Mannar in a single haul. As per published data, one kilogramme of tendu leaf can be rolled into 3,000 beedis. Thereby, had that batch reached our shores, it would have produced 4.2 million beedis. Considering the detections so far this year, it is estimated that over 25 million beedis would have been produced using these illicit stocks.

The incessant discovery of floating leaves point to the presence of an organised ring of smugglers, who are engaged in large-scale trafficking of tendu between India and Sri Lanka. With cess applied on tendu imports increasing marginally over the past couple of years, smuggling will significantly boost profits of beedi manufacturers, who will gain an advantage of well over Rs.2,000 per kilo. Notably, this also eliminates government revenue in any form from the industry.

The beedi industry is growing and estimates point to a market well in excess of 2.5 billion sticks per annum. It is difficult to ascertain what percentage of this produced using smuggled leaf due to the lack of information but alongside the 800 million illicit cigarettes smuggled into Sri Lanka, it poses significant concerns for the government in terms of revenue and resultant costs on public health. It is believed that one in every 10 cigarettes consumed in Sri Lanka is a smuggled product and losses to the state are well over Rs.40 billion.

The government needs to focus better attention on curbing smuggling as not only does it raise questions on public health and revenue but it also poses several concerns on national security. If significant numbers of tobacco products are being smuggled into the country, what other products are being smuggled alongside that?

WITH SEVERAL HIGH-PROFILE CANDIDATES TAKING TO THE POLITICAL STAGE PROMISING SWEEPING CHANGE, IT IS HOPED THAT DUE ATTENTION WOULD BE PAID TO ADDRESS ISSUES SUCH SMUGGLING IN THE TOBACCO TRADE

The large haul of narcotics over the past couple of weeks amply demonstrates that Sri Lanka has turned into a hub for drug smuggling and consumption and speedy steps need to be taken to address these issues, which have farreaching consequences.

Several politicians are known to hold licences to manufacture beedis and several others are engaged with the alcohol industry. Whilst it is entirely correct to be engaged in lawful business, there are numerous allegations that they hold sway over the policy outcomes of the industry – even smuggling. These need to be addressed.

With several high-profile candidates taking to the political stage promising sweeping change, it is hoped that due attention would be paid to address issues such smuggling in the tobacco trade and uphold the commitment we have made to enhance public health and reduce smoking-related harm in the country.

(Ajith Perera, a retired administration, shipping

and maritime security consultant in Sri Lanka and the Middle East, can be reached at ajpereradxb@

gmail.com)