MCO a boon to illicit cigarette trade, say business groups

An estimated five million Malaysians or some 20% of the population are smokers.

PETALING JAYA: Several business organisations have alleged that restrictions under the movement control order (MCO) have led to a dramatic rise in the sale of cigarettes smuggled into the country.

Speaking to FMT, spokesmen for two of the organisations said their customers, unable to buy cigarettes on which tax has been paid, had told them they had turned to the black market.

Ho Su Mong, the president of the Malaysia and Singapore Coffeeshop Association, said his group had informed the National Economic Action Council that its 20,000-odd members had run out of cigarettes to sell.

He said smokers had told him they were now buying easily available illicit cigarettes.

The members of his association had lost 30% of their business to the bootleggers, he added.

Hong Chee Meng, who heads the Federation of Sundry Goods Merchants Association of Malaysia, said he too had spoken to smokers who admitted that they were buying smuggled cigarettes at RM5 to RM7 per pack of 20.

Cigarettes are not on the list of essential items and suppliers cannot distribute them to shops under the MCO.

According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey, about five million Malaysians, or 22.8% of the population, are smokers.

Ho said his association appealed to the government last week to allow new supplies of cigarettes.

T Muthusamy, the president of the Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association, said there was a readily available market for contraband cigarettes.

“Since there are no more cigarettes in the shops, smokers are looking for illicit ones,” he said.

Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive director Shaun Edward Cheah said the trade in illicit cigarettes had been going on for a long time but had picked up since the MCO came into effect.

He urged Putrajaya to allow manufacturers to distribute stock to retailers to stop smokers from looking for contraband.

In February, JT International Bhd, a member of the Japan Tobacco Group, said the illegal cigarette trade accounted for 62.3% of total cigarette sales in Malaysia last year. - FMT