The steady creep of widely available black market cigarettes is costing the country millions of dollars in lost tobacco product revenue.
Over the last 18 months a Customs team investigating illicit tobacco has made 17 arrests and laid around 140 charges.
This represents 9 million dollars of revenue evasion on contraband for that period.
Chief customs officer, fraud and prohibition Nigel Barnes says it's a nationwide problem and if you are in a reasonably sized town there will be somewhere you can obtain illicit tobacco.
In the latest case, charges have been laid after a sophisticated illegal tobacco processing factory in Christchurch was busted.
Customs says it has confiscated approximately 80 kilograms of tobacco along with equipment to manufacture cigarettes. Photo: Supplied / Customs
