One third of cigarettes in Bulgaria are 'illegal'

Every third cigarette smoked in Bulgaria is illegal, according to the tobacco industry, because no excise tax has been paid.

Officials from four international tobacco companies and the Bulgarian monopoly have handed interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov a report explaining that illegal cigarettes – normally smuggled into the country or manufactured in clandestine facilities – account for 34 percent of local tobacco consumption.

The market research was presented by the local offices...