Packs of cigarettes sold 5 euros under the coat at the station of Melun against 11 euros on average at the local tobacconist. Ditto at Meaux station or even Lieusaint. Not to mention the advantageous price offered by some night grocery stores or the "Uber tobacco", booming since the Covid-related lockdowns. Like other departments and the capital, where contraband packages sell for 8 euros at the foot of the Eiffel Tower and 7 euros at the Trocadero, Seine-et-Marne is not spared by the phenomenon of parallel tobacco markets.
"In 2022, in France, there were 650 tons of illegal tobacco seized by Customs compared to 400 tons in 2021. For the customs sector of Paris East - which includes Seine-et-Marne, Val-de-Marne and Seine-Saint-Denis - this figure is 52 tons, up 300% compared to 2021, said Thursday Lionel Beffre, the prefect of Seine-et-Marne, on the occasion of the signing of an agreement to better protect tobacconists and strengthen the fight against trafficking. Convention which is part of the national plan "Tobacco 2023-2025".
Jean-Michel Bourlès, the public prosecutor of Melun, also stressed that the France is the most impacted country in Europe, due in particular to the high rate of consumption and the very high price of the package given the taxes that burden it. "We face two types of origin: theft and burglary, as well as counterfeiting with cigarettes produced in Europe and also in France," said the magistrate. Right here, in Seine-et-Marne, a clandestine factory has been dismantled in Poincy."
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On September 3, the customs officers of Paris-Est had got their hands on about thirty machines intended for the manufacture of contraband cigarettes. In December 2021, another workshop had already been dismantled in this village near Meaux. In terms of seizures, the gendarmes of Seine-et-Marne recently seized 120 kg of contraband hookah tobacco at the toll of Fleury-en-Bière.
"Nearly 40% of tobacco products are sold outside our network"
But during this signature, it is especially the case of the Melun station which was put forward by the authorities. For months, police have been conducting regular operations to try to stem the merry-go-round of street vendors. "Before Covid, there wasn't this problem. Now, if you walk with a cigarette, you can't walk a meter without being harassed, "says a trader in the area. Despite seizures and dismantled networks, trafficking continues. Much to the chagrin of tobacconists, who are still 389 in Seine-et-Marne.
"Nearly 40% of tobacco products are sold outside our network," says Philippe Alauze, president of the Ile-de-France tobacconists' trade union. To denounce this phenomenon, on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, last Wednesday, he invited tobacconists in the Paris region to pose with a banner in front of the main known "deal" points in the Paris region. The latter are also invited, as indicated in the convention, to report to the customs services the trafficking of which they are aware on the application "Stop tobacco trafficking".
Fabrice Chailloux, the president of the union of tobacconists of Seine-et-Marne, was keen to point out that it was not only a question of declining turnover. "In our country, they are manufactured products, but in these contraband cigarettes, we do not know what is in them," he argues. Analyses showed traces of soil and mouse droppings. It must also be said that all the money lost by the state to these mafias is one less way to build roads, hospitals, etc. »
At the time of initialling the agreement, all stakeholders agreed that, in terms of security, the security situation has improved. "It's true that we have strengthened the protection of our businesses and developed video surveillance," says Fabrice Chailloux. A trend confirmed by the prefect who said that armed robberies and burglaries in businesses are decreasing.