# Offered cheap cigarettes in store



## angrylad (24 Feb 2008)

I have heard from mates recently that when they have gone into two separate retail stores (one garage forecourt and one street shop) to purchase cigarettes that they have been asked the question: 

Do you want the cheap ones or the normal price ones? 

When I was told of the first occasion, the garage forecourt, I just assumed that it was someone out to make some extra money - but the second instance seems to be more that just coincidence.


Any views??

PS both purchased the cheap ones and got duty free smokes for a fiver


----------



## mercman (24 Feb 2008)

Well it's a personal choice, but I wouldn't buy them. One thing certain - when their bosses find out they will be looking for new jobs. There are a lot of people who don't and won't smoke duty free smokes --different tobacco and taste.


----------



## DrMoriarty (24 Feb 2008)

angrylad said:


> Any views??


What they're doing is obviously illegal, but (I gather) increasingly common practice. I guess your mates have a choice between saving €2 on a pack of smokes or 'doing the right thing' and reporting the matter. By agreeing to buy the illegally imported ones, they're presumably committing an offence themselves.

But please don't go naming or otherwise identifying the outlets here.


----------



## Complainer (24 Feb 2008)

They are probably supporting some part of an organised crime outfit by participating in this scam.


----------



## ClubMan (24 Feb 2008)

Complainer said:


> They are probably supporting some part of an organised crime outfit by participating in this scam.


Exactly. Same as the chancers on _Moore Street _(on foot - not retail premises) at the same lark...


----------



## John Rambo (25 Feb 2008)

Perhaps not...it's probably a sideline for an employee selling a limited quantity he/she got while on holidays. Still illegal though


----------



## Green (25 Feb 2008)

Ring Customs and give them the details....


----------



## TabithaRose (25 Feb 2008)

there's also the chance they're counterfeit & more damaging to a person's health than authentic cigarettes....


----------



## ClubMan (25 Feb 2008)

What - like inauthentic cancer or emphysema or something?


----------



## Murt10 (25 Feb 2008)

ClubMan said:


> What - like inauthentic cancer or emphysema or something?



No, these are much more lethal than normal cigarettes. 

From The Times

"....Health experts in China say that the counterfeit cigarettes contain six times as much lead than legal ones, 160 per cent more tar, 80 per cent more nicotine and dangerously high levels of arsenic..... 

The cigarettes are crudely made with floor sweepings, sawdust and a toxic mix of chemicals but counterfeiters expertly copy the packs used by the leading brands to dupe shops, pubs and the public. The fake packs even carry the health warning.

...The extraordinary profits being made are tempting some heroin gangs to switch to smuggling packs of 20 as the risks are negligible. "

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article416370.ece


Murt


----------



## Complainer (25 Feb 2008)

John Rambo said:


> it's probably a sideline for an employee selling a limited quantity he/she got while on holidays.


If it's happening as frequently as this thread seems to indicate, a limited quantity from holidays seems unlikely.


----------



## Bronte (26 Feb 2008)

They may not be duty free but duty paid, purchased in an EU country where they are much cheaper and brought in in large quantities via landbridge and probably taste no different. If not duty paid cigarettes they are probably 'stolen' from the manufacturers who may or maynot collude in this practice. In any case the shop assistant is in effect stealing from their boss which may make the purchaser an accessory but I'm not sure on this.


----------



## John Rambo (26 Feb 2008)

Complainer said:


> If it's happening as frequently as this thread seems to indicate, a limited quantity from holidays seems unlikely.


 
True, although I know a couple of people who bring thousands of cigarettes back with them for personal use and have no issues.


----------



## John Rambo (2 Mar 2008)

Complainer is right...most 'illegal' cigarettes are supplied by criminal gangs so by buying them you are supporting these degenerates. However you do make some valid points as excise duty on cigarettes does disproportionately affect the poor. Even the people I know who bring back thousands for their own use have villas overseas so it's nearly doubly unfair as they're saving a fortune.


----------



## Brendan Burgess (3 Mar 2008)

The original question has been answered. Letting Off Steam is restricted to Frequent Posters.

Brendan


----------

