Illegal cigarettes with a street value of nearly R 2 000 000 were destroyed at the Musina dumping site on Thursday, March 18.

Smuggling of cigarettes is a gigantic problem that SARS and Customs at Beitbridge border post are faced with daily. Huge amounts of illegal cigarettes are being confiscated and as court cases come through, large amounts of these black market products are being destroyed.

On this occasion, the team had to destroy 450 boxes, each containing 50 cartons of 20 packets in each carton. A large hammer-type industrial shredder was used to literally shred the packets of cigarettes to pieces. It takes two hours to shred a load of 150 boxes, making the destroying process of a considerable amount of cigarettes a full day’s work.

A sub-contractor from Polokwane is responsible for the actual shredding under the watchful eyes of various SARS and customs officers.