In a joint operation, customs officials in European and Asian ports meticulously inspected deep-sea containers and confiscated tonnes of illicit cigarettes and pesticides destined for Europe, as well as waste shipments bound for Asia.

A secret recording obtained by OCCRP shows how Safy Mokoko Sow, a well-connected intermediary claiming to represent tobacco mogul Apollinaire Compaoré, offered cash to the head of Mali’s state tobacco company as she sought free passage through the country for Compaoré’s cigarettes.

Polish and Belarusian authorities detained over a dozen suspects believed to be part of a large-scale tobacco smuggling network operating between the two countries and potentially throughout the European continent.

Anti-organized crime prosecutors are investigating China Tobacco in Romania for possible links to smuggling by organized crime groups.

A court in Rome is deliberating whether to uphold a ban on the sale of two brands of Camel and Winston cigarettes afterOCCRP and its partners revealed last year that they contained more menthol flavoring than legally allowed.

Hong Kong Customs reported Tuesday the seizure of approximately 64 million suspected illicit cigarettes with an estimated market value of HKD$180 million (US$23 million).

Montenegrin authorities seized in the Port of Bar more than 5,000 packages of illegal tobacco products bound for Serbia and estimated to be worth some three million euro (US$3 million), the country’s Revenue and Customs Administrationannounced on Wednesday.

Police in Belgium detained several suspects and seized more than 57 million cigarettes and 48 tons of cut tobacco, with a total tax value of more than 32 million euro (US$31.94 million), during an international operation,Europol said on Tuesday.

Spanish authoritiesshut down Sunday a large-scale, clandestine tobacco operation that had the necessary infrastructure to illegally produce just under fifty million cigarettes per month.

Iraqi tycoon Nizar Hanna Nasri sits atop an empire spanning pharmaceuticals, liquor imports, and some of Erbil’s most spectacular real estate developments. But his success was built on a far less visible foundation: A globe-spanning trade in black-market cigarettes.

Iraqi tycoon Waheb Tabra worked with Saddam Hussein's son in the 1990s before making a fortune smuggling cigarettes. Since the U.S. invasion, he has become a symbol of Iraq’s political corruption while dealing with everyone from top politicians to the Islamic State.

Japan’s state-backed tobacco company announced on Thursday that it would suspend planned investments in Russia, but failed to promise to shut down factories despite criticism that continuing operations would pump cash into a government that has come under heavy sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) said that just in 2021 it took part in national and international operations that resulted in the seizure of 93 million cigarettes smuggled into the EU as well as 253 million confiscated outside of the Union.

The Belarusian Supreme Court declared on Tuesday a network of informal pro-democracy organizations a ‘terrorist movement’ after some of its members revealed that an oligarch had donated expensive cars to the regime the same year he was given control over the country’s tobacco industry.

Hong Kong Customs said they seized approximately 27 million “suspected illicit cigarettes” last week during a raid on an industrial complex in the island’s Tuen Mun region and arrested a 31-year-old man.

One of the world’s largest cigarette companies, Japan Tobacco International, has been systematically skirting Europe’s effort to ban menthol-flavored cigarettes by introducing new products that secretly contain menthol.

Confidential documents show British American Tobacco signed off on more than $40 million to spy on its competitors over four years.

A former European Commissioner for Health is set to face criminal charges over a 60 million euro (US$71.1 million) bribery scandal that dates back to 2012, the Times of Malta reported Monday.

Growers say they often end up trapped in a painful debt cycle as they struggle to pay for expensive inputs they can ill afford, while a controversial currency system run by Zimbabwe’s central bank saps much of what is left of their income.

Spanish and Portuguese authorities struck against an organized criminal group smuggling millions of dollars worth of illegal tobacco products, Europol announced in a statement Friday.