The smuggling of cigarettes to Norway is showing a strong increase. The statistics indicate that most of them come from the Far East, namely Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore.
For the past eight months of 2004, Norwegian customs officers have confiscated 7.3 million cigarettes, where the figure was only 2.8 million in the same period last year, according to statistics from the Customs Directorate.
Moreover, Norway has been informed by customs colleagues abroad that they have confiscated approximately 4-5 million cigarettes on their way to the country, in which a large portion came from Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore, where the amount has increased dramatically.
Norwegian customs officers further stated that they have confiscated 2.2 million cigarettes discovered in a container in Oslo Harbor, where it arrived on a ship from Singapore via Hamburg, Germany.
