Cigarette smuggling flourishes in Tunisia with endless tricks

The Tunisian government said it is intensifying efforts to stop the rampant cigarettes smuggling phenomenon that has been on the rise due to the security lapse following the 2011 uprising.
Smuggled consumer goods, including cigarettes flood local markets in Tunisia, while building materials and foodstuff like eggs, milk and vegetables are quietly taken out across borders.
 There are no official figures on the scale of the illegal economy, but most estimates indicate that it amounts to about 40 per cent of the economy as a whole
Smuggling cigarettes into the country prevents local industries flourishing, deprives the state of important revenues and hampers efforts to promote investment.
Smugglers use several tricks to disorientate and mislead security forces.
Cigarettes are usually smuggled in convoys of trucks. Shortly before they cross the border, the smugglers who supervise these routes send men ahead in a car carrying normal contraband. This vehicle serves as a guide on the dark road, and also as protection. if the border guards seize it, the trucks will be saved.
According to a World Bank study in 2015, the losses incurred by the Tunisian state due to smuggling activities amounted to 1.2 billion dinars ($650 million), of which 500 million dinars were lost in customs duties. This amount accounts for 4.24 percent of the state budget in 2014, which is equivalent to the Health Department's operating expenses for the year 2013. In other words, this phenomenon is costly for the Tunisian state.
At the government level, several statements highlighted the danger that may be posed by this phenomenon. Minister of Commerce has been relentlessly warning of the loss of profit that may be caused by this phenomenon, calling on citizens to boycott smuggled products, including cigarettes and to cease getting supplies from the informal circuit.
Protecting Tunisia’s borders is a challenge, with a 960 kilometre frontier with Algeria, 500 km with Libya plus a 1,300 km coastline that is also a gateway for contraband. Even at major ports and airports, smugglers find ways round the various checks.
The establishment of what’s known as Checkpoint 44, overseeing the most important border crossing into Tunisia and secured by joint patrols of the army, customs and the security forces, has contributed to a reduction in the smuggling of agricultural products into Libya.