The South African Revenue Service (SARS) reinforced their intent to curb the illegal trade in cigarettes by destroying more than five million illegal cigarettes in Polokwane last week.

This is according to the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa (TISA). The illegal cigarettes were recovered from various interventions in the area over the past months, including raids and seizures at retailers, resellers and wholesalers stocking illegal cigarettes.

“The millions of illegal cigarettes destroyed are evidence of the very successful private and public partnership that exists between TISA, SARS and other government agencies. We believe this partnership is the only way to  combat illicit trade in tobacco products successfully,” said TISA CEO Francois van der Merwe. He added that if these cigarettes were not confiscated and were sold in South Africa, the loss in excise duties alone to SARS would have been R2 469 090.

TISA assists SARS with the destruction of illegal cigarettes by means of custom-built hammer mills that shred the illicit product into fine pieces. These shreddings are then ploughed into landfill sites. All destructions take place in the presence of SARS officials.

“During 2011, around 1.2 billion illegal cigarettes were seized through more than 7 000 interventions by law-enforcement officials. Also in 2011, approximately 800 key players in the illicit industry were arrested on charges relating to the smuggling and trading of illegal cigarettes. The arrests should send a strong warning signal to other illicit traders that no one is above the law,” Van der Merwe said.