PYONGYANG: Buying cigarettes in bulk would be no more pieces of cake for the smugglers as they now will have to pass through inspection procedures at duty free shops, which would be done by Customs officials.
This is part of a plan to tackle the problem of cigarette hoarding ahead of a planned price hike.
The Korea Customs Service said Monday that it will strengthen monitoring on cigarette smuggling by travelers and peddlers.
Currently, the customs office allows 10 packs of cigarettes per person as duty-free. If a traveler is found bringing in an excessive amount of cigarettes without declaring them, the customs office confiscates them.
Cho Bong-gil, an official at the customs office, said that those who bring in too many cigarettes despite short stay overseas will be the focus of monitoring.
“For instance, those who buy 200 packs of cigarettes despite a short trip will be the target, not ordinary travelers with good intentions,” he said.
The measure comes amid expectations that cigarette smuggling will increase significantly ahead of the next year’s cigarette price hike.
The government plans to raise cigarette prices to 4,500 won per pack from 2,500 won. As taxes make up around 62 percent of the cigarette price, duty free cigarettes will become even more attractive.
“For the 2,500 won cigarette pack, tax takes around 1,550 won. When the price is raised to 4,500 won, the tax will take over 3,000 won. It will be tempting for smugglers,” Cho explained.
In fact, when the government raised the cigarette price back in December 2004, smuggling increased to 11.2 billion won the following year from 1.7 billion won.
The customs office also plans to strengthen monitoring on the export of duty-free cigarettes.
Cho explained that cigarettes sold duty-free include those sold at duty-free shops, cigarettes provided for sailors of foreign ships, those for U.S. forces stationed in Korea, those provided to riot police or prisons.
The cigarettes provided for the foreign ships, for instance, should be loaded on the ships, but some smugglers fabricate documents, pretending as if they are going to export the duty-free cigarettes overseas. They turn out to have shipped cheap items, such as bottled water instead of cigarettes, to sell the cigarettes within the country.
As such incidents increased, the customs office netted 66.8 billion won worth of smuggled cigarettes as of November, a steep increase from 43.7 billion won smuggled last year.
“Such smuggling of Korean duty-free cigarettes accounted for more than 90 percent of the total smuggling caught,” the official explained. The customs office thus plans to set up an integrated cigarette management system, to oversee the whole process from production to export.
