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WASHINGTON, DC - 07/06/04 - Federal officials seize more counterfeit cigarettes at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach than anywhere else in the nation, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Quoting a new report recently published by the General Accounting Office (GAO) and the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, about 30% of all seizures of counterfeit cigarettes in 2001 occurred at the two ports.

By 2003, it said, that figure had soared to more than 46%.

"It is hard to tell if the volume of smuggling has increased or more is being detected because of the tightening of security since Sept. 11, 2001," the report said.

Cigarette smuggling, which includes counterfeit and genuine brand cigarettes, is considered a multibillion-dollar crime phenomenon that deprives both federal and state coffers of hundreds of millions in tax revenues.

In addition, Customs officials say cigarette smuggling "attracts criminal and, potentially, terrorist groups lured by high profits, low risks and negligible prison penalties compared with drug trafficking."

Yet the investigation requested by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Tom Davis (R-VA) could not determine the total extent of cigarette smuggling in the US or the total lost tax revenue.

There are now at least two proposals aimed at thwarting cigarette smuggling, the newspaper reported.

One is a bill that would lower the threshold for felony cigarette smuggling from 60,000 to 10,000 cigarettes and increase the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to allocate additional resources to combat the activity.

The other is an international treaty that includes provisions to completely eliminate the illegal trade in tobacco products.

Smuggled cigarettes have been identified as coming into the US mainly from China, Malaysia, Korea, Russia, Latvia, Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and the Philippines, the report said.

The US manufactures about 500 billion cigarettes annually.

According to sources, each pack of smuggled cigarettes costs the federal and state governments a combined total of about 93 cents in import taxes.

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