These companies are well known for lobbying governments, advocating for looser restrictions and lower taxes
After Australia began "ramping up excise" from 2010, he says, the higher taxes gave criminals "a free kick into the market." By 2015, his team was making arrests but soon realised "we weren't going to arrest our way out, because it was so big." In some cases, Pike says, the problem only worsened: "Some of those criminals who we put in jail came out and became bigger and better and became actually key players in the illicit market." Pike points to Kazem Hamad, who was jailed for heroin smuggling, deported to Iraq, and then allegedly built a global crime syndicate "on his laptop from Iraq," becoming "the major importer and distributor of illicit tobacco in Australia." "The government's policy has basically meant that we're putting our health in the hands of criminals," he says
The averaged number of 2.7 was then extrapolated to the total area of the city and the year, resulting in the purely mathematical conclusion that 2.4 billion cigarette filters end up on Berlins streets every year
They include special blends of both menthol and non-menthol cigarettes to try to keep the brand growing and steal smokers from its competitors