Border province seizes 106m counterfeit cigarettes

KUNMING - More than 106 million smuggled counterfeit cigarettes have been seized in the border areas of Southwest China's Yunnan province in the first half of this year, local tobacco authorities said Wednesday.

The provincial tobacco monopoly bureau said the cigarettes were smuggled from neighboring countries including Myanmar and Vietnam, and those seized in the border areas accounted for 48 percent of the total counterfeit cigarettes smuggled into the province.

During this period, a total of 6,401 tonnes of tobacco leaves and slices attempted to be smuggled out of the border areas were intercepted.

Yunnan is one of the major tobacco production areas in China.

The province investigated 19,875 cigarette-related cases in 2018, including more than 3,400 cigarette smuggling cases.