Tobacco products are the most sold goods on the black market in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). As many as 49 percent of citizens in this country buy cigarettes and tobacco in this way.
This is shown by research data published in 2020 by the Center for Policies and Management, a Sarajevo “think tank” organization that deals with European integration and public administration reform.
In the same year, 3.6 billion cigarettes were bought on the legal market, according to the analysis of the non-governmental organization Liberal Forum (Liberalni Forum), which estimates that twice as many cigarettes were sold on the black market in 2020.
According to the same research, the legal sale of cigarettes decreased by 7.6 billion cigarettes per year from 2008 to 2020, although the number of smokers did not significantly decrease during that period. Therefore, it is certain that smokers turned to the cheaper, black market, according to the analysis of the Liberal Forum.
Resad from Sarajevo has been buying tobacco at the market for seven years. He mentioned that he has been doing this since he retired, and the price of cigarettes on the legal market was rising. He gives 12 euros a month for two packs of half a kilogram of tobacco.
“I mostly buy tobacco from the same man. Sometimes it is not present at the market, so he brings it to me from his car or from a nearby cafe,” says this man from Sarajevo. He adds that a few years ago, the police confiscated tobacco from his seller. Despite this, he says, he continued to engage in reselling.
The tobacco that Resad buys does not have a manufacturer’s, supplier’s or excise stamp. He assumes that it is tobacco from Herzegovina.
Smuggled cigarettes and tobacco most often arrive in BiH from Montenegro, Serbia, and Albania. BiH is a transit country on the international smuggling route leading to European Union (EU) countries, according to the Indirect Tax Administration (ITA).
This year, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH filed indictments against 13 persons for illegal trade in tobacco and cigarettes. Three of them are members of the BiH Border Police, RSE writes.
E.Dz.
