Illegal cigarettes for sale on campus

**Posters advertising the sale of contraband cigarettes were spotted inside and outside the Library on Monday January 28.**

The advertisements, titled “Genuine Marlboro For Sale”, offered 20 packs of Chinese Marlboro Red cigarettes and ten packs of Chinese Marlboro Gold cigarettes priced at £6 per pack or £55 for ten – a total of 600 cigarettes.

According to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), up to 200 cigarettes at a time per person can be brought into the UK from outside the European Union (EU). However, they can only be for personal use or given as a gift.

When the Boar contacted the seller using the mobile number on the poster, the male who answered the phone told us that he had bought the cigarettes on the way back to Warwick from China. He said we could buy all the cigarettes and that he would sell them to us on campus. He also confirmed that he was a student at the University and gave his first name (which the Boar has withheld from publication).

A University spokesperson confirmed that the activity was illegal and said that security have been advised to remove the poster if it is seen around campus again.

“It is a matter for HMRC in the first instance,” he said. “If we had first-hand information we would pass any details we had to them.”

He said that students should report any such suspicious activity they find to HMRC.

Students’ Union Welfare Officer Ben Sundell also said that advertising and selling cigarettes without a license is illegal.

“Obviously if this takes place on campus, the University may wish to investigate,” he said.

Asked whether international students at Warwick were informed well enough about UK laws, he said: “Fortunately this seems like an isolated incident, but of course we always want to make sure that both the University and Students’ Union continue to keep all of our students up to date with the campus behavioural procedures as best we can.”

A report last November by the Independent said that 16.4 per cent of tobacco smoked in the UK had avoided UK taxes, which cost the Government £2.9 billion in 2012.