Over 11% of the global cigarette market is considered illicit and operates as a global industry which opens up the avenues for many illegal activities such as the expansion of black markets, funding for terrorist activities, crimes, money laundering, and corruption. However, the tobacco industry claims that the high tax rates on tobacco products aggravate smuggling. Studies on this argument remain inconclusive due to context-specific issues such as poor border protection and data limitations. Against such a backdrop, this study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of tobacco smuggling in Sri Lanka and to identify the effective means of regulating smuggling to feed into the policymaking process.
