New reports expose tobacco smuggling in West Africa

The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has published the results of two investigations into Tobacco Companies’ dealings in West Africa, featuring insights from TobaccoTactics’ Andy Rowell and Allen Gallagher.

One report alleges the complicity of a Philip Morris International official representative, Apollinaire Compaoré, in the smuggling of cigarettes in Burkina Faso. Billions of smuggled Marlboro cigarettes make their way to Libya, Mali, Algeria, and Nigeria through Compaoré’s involvement. 

In another report, the OCCRP reveals the extent of the illicit trade of British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands’ products in Mali. The authors allege that the profits from billions of smuggled cigarettes are helping to finance jihadist groups and fuelling bloody conflicts in the region. 

You can read the reports here and here.