CM Tarun Gogoi orders probe into illegal cigarette trade in Assam

The chief minister also asked the inquiry committee to suggest measures to check and disband illegal trade in cigarettes as pointed out in the Ficci report. The report had said that there was a huge influx of cheap king-sized smuggled cigarettes from countries like Bangladesh, China and Myanmar into Assam.

“As a bulk of these smuggled cigarettes are transported from Assam and other Northeastern states to the rest of the country by various modes of transport, such illegal cigarettes totally defeat the tobacco control objectives of the government as they neither bear any health warnings required under Indian laws, nor do they have other mandatory declarations like MRP or date and place of manufacture,” the Ficci report said.