On the night of December 1, 2023, during a check-up in ManzanilloMontecristi, agents of the Specialized Border Security Corps (Cesfront) arrested a man with 756,000 units of cigarettes inside an SUV.
In that same month, the General Directorate of Customs (DGA) detected at the Las Americas International Airport five million cigarettes camouflaged in 16 televisions, worth more than 64 million pesos. And six months earlier, the Cesfront arrested Francisco Javier Ramírez in Elías Piña with 490,000 units of the product also in an all-terrain vehicle.
Publications of seizures are recurrent in the press. They are part of the efforts of the authorities against the illicit tradeDespite these actions, mafias prevail and place the goods on the market, which, in addition to harming state revenues, constitutes unfair competition for registered companies.
The constant smuggling It occurs at all entry points: border crossings, mainly; ports and airports. In March 2024 alone, the DGA destroyed 54 million cigaretteswhose value for tax evasion would reach 321 million pesos.
Real operations or smoke screens?
The most seized brands, according to the statements sent to the media, are Capital (Middle East), Jaisalmer (India), Point and Camme II Faut (Haiti) and Gold City. These contribute to satisfying a consumer demand that covers 13% of the population, according to the Dominican Society of Cardiology.
Precisely, an undercover team of Free Newspaper verified that some grocery stores near the Chinatown and the Colonial Cityas well as Invivienda, Santo Domingo Este, sell the Capital brand at 10 pesos per unit and 150 pesos per pack. One consumer surveyed said that he prefers it because it is cheaper and generates almost the same sensation as legal cigarettes.
This media attempted to verify with regulatory institutions the list of brands eligible for import, but it was not possible to obtain them at the time of writing.
He modus operandi This involves vendors having legal cigarettes visible to everyone, while the others are hidden under the counter or in a separate room.
In the case of the improvised ice cream bags, the cigarettes of this brand are inside a hidden drawer with the legal ones, as verified Free Newspaper in one installed on the corner of Sánchez and El Conde streets in the Colonial City.
![[object HTMLTextAreaElement]](https://resources.diariolibre.com/images/2024/09/13/paletera-en-el-conde.jpg "Cigarette smuggling, a scourge that smokes the State's income")
How are they supplied? Some sellers who spoke on condition of anonymity indicated that the distributors first come by to see the quantity they are going to buy and then a driver takes the order.
The sales occur despite the fact that the National Institute of Consumer Rights Protection (Pro Consumer) reported 7,800 inspections from 2021 to June 2024.
A research by the Institute of Higher Education in Diplomatic and Consular Training (Inesdyc) revealed the rise of the illicit trade of goods in the border provinces of Dajabón, Elías Piña, Independencia and Pedernales.
What was raised vs. what was lost
Data from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce indicate that, between 2013 and 2021, the treasury stopped collecting 29,000 million pesos because of this smuggling. In the same period, according to the annual reports of the General Directorate of Internal Revenue (DGII), only 20,411.4 million pesos were collected. That is, there is a difference of 8,588.4 million in the collection-evasion ratio.
To put it in perspective, with that money that the treasury lost, the Government would have built the expressway of Plaza de la Bandera, the drawbridge that will replace the floating one on the Ozama River, a bridge parallel to the Jacinto B. Peynado, which will connect Villa Mella with the National District, and other works contemplated with the money that the State obtained with the renegotiation of the contract with Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (Aerodom).
29,000Millions of pesos
The State stopped receiving between 2013 and 2021 due to cigarette trafficking
The Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD) is concerned about this and warns that the problem affects all regions, although it occurs more in Santo Domingo and Santiago.
He argues that, between 2015 and 2023, illegal cigarettes increased by an annual average of 36 %to the point that, at present, four out of 10 cigarettes entered through smuggling. In addition, the figure that was entered at that time 5.4 billion of units clandestinely.
Mario Pujolsexecutive vice president of AIRD, points out that traffic increased from 2012, when Law 253-12 was enacted, which established the bases for raising the selective tax on specific consumption and the tax on transfers of industrialized goods and services (Itbis) applicable to those products.
He says that, by the end of 2023, the total drop in the volume of legal cigarettes has been almost 61% compared to 2012.
Pujols sets as a reference that, for each 40-foot container of cigarettes trafficked, approximately 100% of the tax is lost. 64 million pesostaking into account the selective and Itbis rates in force in 2023.
![[object HTMLTextAreaElement]](https://resources.diariolibre.com/images/2023/04/27/whatsapp-image-2023-04-26-at-94521-pm-1-dae57eda.jpeg "Cigarette smuggling, a scourge that smokes the State's income")
The seizures
Between 2020 and the first half of 2024, the DGA reported the confiscation of 149.4 million cigaretteswith a market price of 1,748.7 million pesosaccording to a report sent to Free Newspaper by that entity. While Cesfront retained 47.7 million cigarettes in the same period, for a total of 197.1 million units in four years.
The merchandise is delivered to the Specialized Body for Fuel Control and Merchandise Trade (Ceccom), which is responsible for destroying it along with other confiscated products.
The statistics of the Ceccom They point out that tobacco derivatives represent more than 90% of the smugglingThey are followed by medicines with 1.3 million units, 763,000 units of alcohol and bottles, more than 102,000 sexual stimulants and 36,000 bottles of clerén.
Few consequences
Law 17-19, on the Eradication of Illicit Tradeestablishes a penalty of three to five years in prison, fines of 100 to 200 minimum wages from the public sector and up to 300 times the amount of the customs value of the merchandise. However, there are few reports of exemplary submissions and convictions. By June 2023, Industry and Commerce reported 19 judicial cases.
In the press releases of the Attorney General’s Office, the maximum sentence was about two years in prison for the citizen. Felix Alexis Garcia Guzmanfound guilty in 2023 of trafficking eight million cigarettes, valued at 120 million of weights.
This medium requested the number of judicial cases submitted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office by the cigarette mafia, but it forwarded the request to the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ)However, the entity clarified that it is up to the Attorney General’s Office to respond. It was also asked for the convictions obtained by province, to which the SCJ responded: “we indicate that we do not have the statistics in the form requested.”
![[object HTMLTextAreaElement]](https://resources.diariolibre.com/images/2024/09/13/666cb6bd8cd16.jpeg "Cigarette smuggling, a scourge that smokes the State's income")
Industrialists are optimistic that, just as convictions have been achieved, 30 years to counterfeiters of alcohol, also be imposed on cigarette smugglers. “The AIRD considers that it is necessary to show that in the country there is a regime of consequences for anyone who intends to manufacture or market their products in the country without complying with the existing regulatory framework,” says Mario Pujols.
To address the problem, a few weeks ago, Vice President Raquel Peña and Minister Víctor Bisonó delivered 13 trucks valued at 33 million pesos to Ceccom for patrolling the border.
In addition, the government is building the perimeter fence of 54 kilometers along the borderwhich will be equipped with special equipment to stop the trafficking of immigrants and goods.
Agreements have also been established at the public-private level, such as the launch of the Industrial Observatory against Illicit Trade (OICI), where they collect data and unite to address the problem.
“With this tool we seek to strengthen compliance, legal security and competitiveness of the Dominican industrial sector, with the intention that it can serve as input to the authorities who face illegality in our country on a daily basis,” concludes the executive.
