Dirty Tobacco

Illegally trafficked cigarettes makes more money than cocaine, heroin, marijuana and guns. Extremely lucrative, yet relatively low risk. Not surprising then that contraband cigarettes are the Taliban’s second biggest income after heroin. But the Taliban is not dominating the global contraband cigarette business . . . Telita Snyckers, former SARS customs lawyer, exposes the underbelly of the big tobacco industry and shows how it not only condones smuggling, but actively pursues it, costing SARS R7 billion in lost taxes annually. It details a series of instances where big tobacco was caught smuggling or otherwise acting criminally the world over and explores why a big, listed company would want to smuggle its own product, and how it actually did so. In this fascinating and captivating read Snyckers connects the dots and explains why this essentially “legal” criminal cartel has managed to be one of the most profitable industries in the history of capitalism.