Smuggling soars after excise hikes

Contraband cigarettes have flooded the country, increasing tenfold. Oil smuggling is the second biggest problem.

The Finance Ministry will soon ask the Cabinet for a Bt900 million budget to suppress those illegal imports.

Deputy Finance Minister Pruttichai Damrongrat said yesterday that after excise duties on those three products were raised to help offset the shortfall in other tax collections, smuggling at the border including in Ubon Ratchathani, Surin and Sa Kaew had flourished.

Seized cigarettes multiplied by 10 times from the 83 cases where arrests were made last month.

Fines surged from Bt790,000 in April to almost Bt10 million last month.

Black-market diesel oil also increased with two big cases involving 17,000 litres and 16,000 litres.

Liquor was less of a problem with an average of 10-15 cases per month because the tax rate has already reached its legal ceiling.

However, border authorities need to beef up their manpower, as they only have 600 officers to curb the illicit trade, he added.