Case of confiscated cigarettes goes up in smoke
It might have taken almost two years to complete but today, the Customs Department has officially released the findings of its investigation into the discovery of two containers filled with contraband cigarettes. According to Comptroller of Customs Gregory Gibson the case of the counterfeit Marlboros led investigators to a local broker in Corozal but because much of the evidence presented was deemed hearsay the case did not end in a conviction. Determined to send a message to contrabandistas, today customs officers took the illegal smokes to an undisclosed site where the cigarettes were destroyed.
Gregory Gibson, Comptroller of Customs
?One might wonder why the investigation has taken so long to be concluded. We were not happy with the fact that we were not able to indict anybody in terms of the shipment coming consigned to somebody in the zone and we have been reluctant to close the file. But at this stage, with any likelihood of a successful conviction, we?ve decided that we would go ahead and destroy the goods. We cannot place ownership on anybody local. So the agent of the Marlboro cigarettes, and Phillip Morris, has given approval for the cigarettes to be destroyed. The value of the shipment is over, the two containers, contains totally sixteen thousand, forty-four cases of cigarettes, worth an estimated market value of two million six hundred fifty thousand dollars. We have a job to do at customs. We protect both local manufacturers and designate importers and it?s a job which we intend to do to our best ability and to the fullest extent of the law. We do not intend to desist from enforcing the law and we intend to ensure that those individuals that do the right thing get the protection that they deserve. And at the end of the day the Belizean consumer gets the benefit he is entitled to and the fair treatment he is entitled to as a result of those importations.?
The containers of illegal cigarettes were confiscated during a routine customs check in October 2004.
