Tracking fails to check cigarettes’ smuggling

The Track and Trace System (TTS) implemented by the FBR was failing, with a rising incidence of fake stamps being affixed to counterfeit packs of prominent cigarette brands. Senior officials of the tobacco industry on Monday decried a lack of enforcement measures in the sector, expressing concerns about the sustainability of this business as Pakistani markets were flooded with smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes. Talking to the media, Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) officials stated that the recent data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed a decline of around 40 per cent in Large Scale Manufac­turing (LSM) for the tobacco industry from July to November 2023. Qasim Tariq, Senior Business Development Manager at PTC, said that cigarette consumption has remained stagnant. It is visible by visiting any market across the country that cheap, smuggled, and counterfeit local brands are available, he added.