Organised criminals are doing a roaring trade selling illicit cigarettes to unsuspecting Fifers.
The ease with which cheap tobacco is available was unearthed in a study commissioned by Philip Morris International, which manufactures seven of the world’s top tobacco brands.
A team of undercover test purchasers, led by former Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector Will O’Reilly, uncovered a trail of tobacco traders.
These ranged from illicit to counterfeit cigarettes that have been “made to look like the real thing”.
Also in the mix are contraband cigarettes brought into the UK from other markets where they are sold more cheaply, and illicit whites that are manufactured purely for smuggling.
In Fife the operation led to four cartons and nine packets of illicit cigarettes and nine pouches of rolling tobacco in 17 separate sales.
The cheapest individual packet of illicit cigarettes cost £4.50, while cartons of 10 were available for as little as £35 and 50g pouches of tobacco were on offer for £7.
Mr O’Reilly said Fife was one area of Scotland where the team found it easy to access these potentially harmful cigarettes.
He said through the study’s findings it would appear there was a link between areas of deprivation and the illicit tobacco trade.
“We know that organised crime is behind the trade in illicit tobacco.
“Criminals are turning from harder crimes to the illicit trade in tobacco products due to higher profit margins and fewer risks involved,” he said.
As illicit cigarettes retail at a fraction of the cost of their legal counterparts, profit margins are high for criminal gangs.
Not only are the cigarettes a danger to anyone buying them, they are also causing a loss to the Treasury, something that impacts on every family in the UK, he said. That loss could be as high as £3 billion.
Philip Morris said the discovery of an endemic illicit tobacco trade across Scotland came as the Scottish Government has committed to introducing plain packaging for tobacco products.
The company argues that the new legislation will not only lead to the closure of smaller newsagents and convenience stores, but to a rise in the availability of illicit cigarettes.
Plain packaging would, in theory, make life simpler for those making counterfeit cigarettes.
Mr O’Reilly warned: “The theory that you will stop children from taking up smoking by introducing plain packaging is laudable, but if it does lead to a rise in illicit trade it is having the opposite effect.”