France struggles to stub out ‘explosion’ in contraband cigarettes

theguardian.com:

O utside a station in Pantin, a town that nudges up against Paris’s north-eastern border, young men hollered “cigarettes!” at commuters. They flashed two or three packets of what looked like ordinary Malboros or Camels for €5 (£4.35), about half the legal price. “There are so many illegal cigarette sellers near stations, they’re taking over the pavements,” said a customer at a local bakery.

The French government has warned of an “explosion” in contraband cigarettes since the Covid lockdowns, as the number of smokers in France remains stable and has even risen among women over 18. Men selling cheap contraband packets near stations in and around Paris, from the Gare du Nord to Barbès or Noisy-le-Sec and La Courneuve, are so commonplace that some residents’ groups deem greater Paris a “giant, open-air, illegal tobacconist’s”.

But France’s cigarette wars are a sign of deeper problems running through society. International criminal gangs are putting millions of euros into setting up secret illegal cigarette factories in western Europe and France is a key target market – it has among the highest taxes on cigarettes in the EU with the average price of a pack about €11. At the bottom of the chain, the young men selling a handful of packets on the street – many from Maghreb countries or Afghanistan – are often without legal papers and unable to find other work, vulnerable to gangs and making a tiny profit to survive. Those who buy the cigarettes say they cannot make ends meet so have no choice, despite risking a €135 fine if they are caught purchasing illegal tobacco.

More than one-third of cigarettes smoked in France in 2021 were bought illegally, according to KPMG research, funded by the tobacco industry. French authorities