British American Tobacco and tobacco smuggling

British American Tobacco and tobacco smuggling, by Action on Smoking and Health (no date)

Summary of published paper:

This article largely consists of links to around 200 internal documents from British American Tobacco (BAT) that illustrate the extent of the BAT's involvement in cigarette smuggling in Asia, Africa and Latin America. As a result of these disclosures, BAT has faced a media storm, it's senior management has been questioned by a House of Commons Committee and the company is under investigation by the DTI over its involvement in smuggling. The documents show BAT orchestrating smuggling through third parties, and treating smuggling as if it is just another distribution channel -- with pricing strategy, product launches and marketing plans. The documents show that BAT does not do the smuggling itself, but works through middlemen that do the actual smuggling. Smuggling allegations have lead to racketeering legal action against BAT and other multi-national tobacco companies.

Related Sourcewatch resources

 * Tobacco smuggling
 * Patanegra cigarettes
 * General trade