BC Crime Stoppers to crack down on the sale of illegal cigarettes

To combat the growing concerns about the buying and selling of illegal cigarettes, BC Crime Stoppers is launching a province-wide public awareness campaign aimed at highlighting the threats brought on by contraband tobacco.

“The contraband tobacco trade is a multi-billion-dollar cash cow for organized crime and people willingly or not, need to realize that when they purchase contraband tobacco they’re actually funding organized crime,” said Weldon LeBlanc, BC Crime Stoppers executive director.

The Okanagan was named one of the hotspots in the province for illegal cigarettes, along with Vancouver and Surrey.

“We’re talking throughout the entire Okanagan region from Osoyoos up to Kamloops,” said LeBlanc.

“It’s a lot of complaints specifically from the convenience store sector who report a lot of activity and regular activity in the contraband tobacco trade.”

The provincial government reports that back in 2019, over five million illegal cigarettes were seized during an undercover investigation conducted in partnership with local law enforcement agencies.

The seizure is said to have saved the province $1.4 million in potential tax revenue loss. During that operation approximately 3.6 million cigarettes were seized in Surrey, 1.6 million seized in Vancouver, and 82,000 seized in Kelowna.

“What people have to realize as well, is tax revenue is important to fund a lot of the social programs that we depend on so when you have a trade as big as the contraband tobacco trade it makes a significant dent in the revenues that come into the province.”

LeBlanc said the driving factor attracting consumers to purchase illegal tobacco is the low cost.

“The pricing of legal cigarettes increases over the years through increased taxing. The difference between a carton of legal cigarettes and illegal cigarettes is very appealing,” said LeBlanc.

According to the provincial government, retail outlets are regularly inspected to ensure retailers are not selling contraband products.