The Globe and Mail has reported on the increase in smuggled cigarettes in Canada, causing an estimated $1 Billion (Canadian) loss in tax revenue.

The article reported that the cigarettes that are smuggled are not branded cigarettes, but rather, simple cigarettes without a name.

The key difference between the early 1990s and today is that the scheme no longer uses brand-name, legally manufactured tobacco. Instead, 90 per cent of the cigarettes are illegal, no-name smokes manufactured on the U.S. side of the Akwesasne reserve near Cornwall, Ont.

In an interview, RCMP Sergeant Michael Harvey of the Central St. Lawrence Valley detachment said the leaders of the scheme are not natives, but rather Montreal and Toronto-based biker gangs such as the Hells Angels, as well as Asian gangs and the Mafia.

The following picture is of these “no-name” cigarettes found by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

(Photo courtesy of Globe and Mail and RCMP)

Havocscope is listing the global market in smuggled cigarettes at $27.5 Billion.