iN NUMBERS: The battle against illegal cigarettes in BC

No one looks cool when they smoke, except maybe Clint Eastwood.

Cigarettes are being replaced by nicotine vaping but police in B.C. are still battling contraband tobacco.

Following a huge seizure of illegal smokes in Kelowna we found some data on the contraband tobacco trade at large.

Here are the numbers on illegal cigarettes:

• 7,400: Cartons of illegal cigarettes were seized in Kelowna on Oct. 16.
• 750,000: Dollars was the value of those cigarettes.
• 12: Million dollars worth of cigarettes seized back in 2023 was one of the biggest illegal tobacco bust in B.C. history. 
• 50: Dollars is roughly the savings on cartons of illegal cigarettes in the Okanagan compared to legal ones.
• 591: Million dollars a year in lost tax revenue is the rough estimate for the impact of illegal smokes in B.C.
• 17: Million dollars is how much the government wanted from a North Okanagan man who was caught selling illegal cigarettes for 10 years. 
• 1.3: Billion dollars is the approximate value of Canada’s illegal tobacco market. 
• 32: Per cent of B.C.’s tobacco market is illegal.
• 1: Province has more expensive cigarettes than B.C. and it’s Newfoundland and Labrador. In B.C. a pack is $18 on average in Newfoundland and Labrador it’s around $18.50.