The Customs Department made a major bust of contraband cigarettes, but they
are keeping it quiet because this time they may actually be able to make an
arrest. We’ve been pressing the department for details since yesterday
and the most we’ve been able to find out is that the container full of
fake Marlboros came from China, was intercepted yesterday at the Port of Belize
and it was bound for the Corozal Free Zone. Usually that’s the end of
it until the cigarettes are destroyed, but this time is different.
7NEWS has learned that for the first time in a while, the names and companies
involved in the shipment are not fictional – and the investigating team
is following up on some leads Customs has put together a multi-agency team to
work on making arrests. Those have not happened yet, but we’ll have more
information on it for you tomorrow.
In September, Customs busted a container that also came from China with 855
boxes of fake Marlboro cigarettes valued at four million dollars. At the time,
that was one of four containers with fake cigarettes that were intercepted at
Customs. Considering the size of those losses to the smugglers of the fake smokes,
it says a lot that four months after the crackdown, the importation of those
containers of fake cigarettes continues – telling us that either only
a fraction of the contraband cargo is being intercepted or the dealers don’t
care about losing millions of dollars on a confiscated shipment.
As a policy and practice, Customs only checks a small percentage of containers
going from the Port to the Free Zone.
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