Telegraf December 11, 2001
Can You Spare a Smoke, Pal?
Large Amount of Illegal Cigarettes Publicly Destroyed in Latvia by Danil Smirnov Senior government officials participated yesterday in an operative ritual sacrifice for the purpose of demonstrating our prowess in the fight against contraband. This time the Coalition for Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR) organized the public incineration of 25 million contraband cigarettes. The cigarettes' trip around the world "Cigarette counterfeiting has recently attained such high levels, that it is practically impossible to differentiate the original product from the fake," PM representative Gregory Prager griped to Telegraf. The counterfeits are produced in Europe. From there the contraband begins its world tour. One of the most common schemes appears to be as follows: the cargo is shipped from Europe to Africa, from there to Asia, and then back to Europe. There the cigarettes are considered to be absolutely genuine and completely legal. Latvia has become one of the primary transit corridors for counterfeit cigarettes. As senior government officials claimed at yesterday's action, large international organized criminal groups stand behind the contraband trade. "It's possible that these groupings are linked to international terrorists," said Saeima Defense and Internal Affairs Commission Chair Dzintars Kudums. Other attending state officials spoke about more mundane concerns, such as the unpaid millions in taxes, illegally acquired wealth, etc. The sacrificial altar in Silakrogs The saw mill in Silakrogs had never seen such a gathering of high-ranking state officials. Minister of Interior Mareks Seglins, State Revenue Service chief Andrejs Sonciks, Saeima Defense and Internal Affairs Commission Chair Dzintars Kudums delivered speeches strongly denouncing contraband. The 25-million counterfeit Benson&Hedges, Marlboro and L&M brand cigarettes will be destroyed over the course of the next five to seven days. These separate contraband cargoes have been held since their seizure last November. Combined, they amount to quite a large batch of cigarettes. At a street price of one dollar per pack, the combined value of the lot would approach one million dollars. As the organizers have calculated, the counterfeit cigarettes would stretch in a chain from Latvia's Freedom Monument to the Rock of Gibraltar. Box (front page): Opinion
Saeima deputy Martijans Bekasovs (For Human Rights in a United Latvia): "Not only do I think this was done just for show, but it is also downright sabotage. If these confiscated contraband cigarettes are no more harmful than cigarettes usually are, then they could have actually been released back into market circulation, or sold off to another country, if we have no use for so many." Box (page 2)
Chronicle of an undeclared war - December 30, 2000. A fire breaks out in the village of Viski, Daugavpils district. Upon inspection of the premises, police discover 1162 master cases of cigarettes.
- June 6, 2001. Anti-contraband officers from the Customs Service inspect a shipment of water boilers in the Riga Free Port. They discover 39,000 packs of cigarettes hidden inside the tanks of the water boilers.
- End of the year, 2000. The "Sea Baltic" arrives in Riga Port and unloads its cargo, declared as Benson&Hedges cigarettes. Upon inspection, customs officers find that the consignment has no license documents. Experts determine that the cigarettes are counterfeit.
In all three cases, criminal investigations were discontinued because none of the cargo owners were ever identified. Photo caption: No smoking contraband Marlboro, Benson&Hedges, Marlboro Lights cartons being placed into furnace by employee of facility. | 
