Customs busts $2.65 million in fake Marlboros

Somebody’s in big trouble tonight…but we’re not sure who. A release from the U.S. embassy reports that on October twenty-eighth, following a month long investigation, two containers destined for the Corozal Free Zone were closely inspected by Customs officers. Instead of slippers, as stated on the customs entry, what they found was one thousand six hundred and forty-four cases of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes. According to the makers of real Marlboros, Philip Morris International, the bogus butts have a value of two point six five million Belize dollars. The bust is the product of some high level sleuthing by Philip Morris, who has traced the cigarettes to South Korea. Why smuggle phoney cigarettes into the free zone when the real ones, without the taxes, are cheap enough? It seems that these particular smokes were destined for the Mexican market. Philip Morris has its own Marlboro plants in that country and any imports–which are easily identified–are banned. The Korean fakes, however, had all the Spanish language packaging that would have made them indistinguishable from the authentic local product. News 5 was unable to contact comptroller of custom Gregory Gibson to verify the name of the consignee of the two containers but it is assumed that the owner will be prosecuted.