Illegal cigarette packages sell for 30 pesos and are
often on sale for two for 50 pesos.
The south Sinaloa delegate of the State Commission for the Protection against Health Risks (Coepris), Faustino Heredia Niebla, has declared war on businesses selling illegal cigarettes and has asked for help from Culiacán to accomplish the attack.
The delegate’s statement follows an article published yesterday in the Spanish language daily Noroeste newspaper uncovering the sale of illegal cigarettes in Mazatlán in a store a few meters from the Coepris offices.
According to Coepris, smoking illegal cigarettes is even riskier than legal ones due to the fact they are not regulated, and the contents and quantities of chemicals are not known.
In a report issued several weeks ago, the Federal government stated Sinaloa is sixth in the country for the consumption of illegal cigarettes, including Mazatlán. Coepris detected the importation of 80,000 illegal cigarettes in containers in the port in 2012, the largest quantity seized in the history of the country.
In local Mazatlán small tiendas, illegal cigarette packages sell for 30 pesos and are often on sale for two for 50 pesos. Legal cigarette packages sell for between 36 pesos and 47 pesos.
(from Noroeste)
