Jin Ling Smuggling

Every month since 2004, the market research institute Ispos has collected some 12,000 discarded cigarette packs from 24 garbage collection points in Germany for analysis. This led to the discovery that the eighth most popular brand of cigarettes in Germany is actually Jin Ling, which is not legally available. $1 billion worth is smuggled in from Eastern Europe each year and is the second most popular brand in Berlin, according to Der Spiegel. Although cigarette consumption has declined in Germany, smuggling has increased, suggesting anti-smoking taxation is shifting consumers to illegal supplies.

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