OREANDA-NEWS. June 27, 2012. The State Customs Committee attached 12 off-roaders worth USD 264,000 bought from a Japan Tobacco International (JTI) grant to Vitebsk, Pinsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk and Oshmyany customs houses for rapid response anti-smuggling units, Deputy Chief of the State Customs Committee Yuri Brytkov told reporters.

The latest lot of off-road vehicles arrived at the customs houses of Grodno, Minsk and Oshmyany on June 11, 2012.

The vehicles were acquired in the framework of the agreement with JTI on a targeted grant signed by JTI and the Committee in October 2010. The grant was designated for acquisition of 12 off-roaders.

“Today’s event is another real and specific result of the mutually beneficial cooperation that has continued between our organizations since we signed the Memorandum of Understanding in late 2008,” said Konstantin Fedorov, JTI Vice-President, Belarus and the Caucasus.

“Our company believes that only close cooperation between the tobacco industry and state authorities is capable of tackling the problem of contraband and counterfeited cigarettes. Smuggling results in shorter tax and other revenues of the state budget, harms JTI’s and our partners’ business and assaults the reputation of our brands. Therefore, JTI undertakes active measures to block the access of its products to the illicit market,” he added.

JTI believes with a fleet of off-roaders Belarus’ customs now performs better in terms of counteracting illegal trafficking in tobacco goods across the border.

Illegal transfer of tobacco goods across the Belarusian customs border has doubled since 2008, with the volume of seized tobacco goods expanding 5.85 times.

As reported by the SCC, Belarus counteracted illegal transfer of more than 30 million cigarettes in Jan-Apr 2012. In 2011 alone Belarus’ customs service seized from smugglers 09.2 million cigarettes.