A BBC spokesman said the investigation revealed that more than half of all hand-rolled tobacco in Scotland was either counterfeit or smuggled and one in five cigarettes smoked was fake.Err, not really, no.
He said: "Using secret filming, the investigation exposes the gangs which are costing British tax-payers £4bn in lost revenue a year."
The gangs aren't costing the country anything at all. They are merely stepping in to fill a market exclusively created by the government's fantastically over-optimistic taxing of tobacco. Contraband rates of 50% and 20% don't come about by chance, you know.
The only people 'costing' the country money are politicians who seem happy to refuse maximum revenue by levying unrealistic duty rates well in excess of what the consumer is prepared, or able, to pay. Up to £4bn worth, apparently.
Enough to comfortably cover all of the cost of smoking to the NHS which the same financially careless politicians keep bleating about.
Still, when have the realities of life and economics ever entered the debate about tobacco, eh?
