[Intl-tobacco] Philip Morris To Help Colombia Halt Cigarette Smuggling (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Philip Morris To Help Colombia Halt Cigarette Smuggling
Source: Dow Jones News Service, Monday, 3/20/00
Updated 9:26 AM ET March 20, 2000

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Philip Morris Cos.' (MO) Colombia unit agreed to
help the Colombian government stop the smuggling of Marlboro cigarettes
into the country.

 The tobacco company will inspect contraband collected by the National Tax
and Customers Administration of Colombia, and will give the administration
information that could be useful in law enforcement efforts.

 Philip Morris had stopped importing cigarettes into Colombia after the
country's governors threatened to bring charges in a U.S. court against
the company and against British American Tobacco PLC (BTI).

 The governors alleged that the companies, the two leading exporters of
cigarettes to Colombia, had intentionally fostered smuggling in order to
skirt the 48% sales tax levied on imported cigarettes.

 The Associated Press reported in May that smuggled cigarettes cost the
Colombian government $305 million a year.

 Philip Morris resumed imports to the country in September, and currently
imports Marlboro cigarettes manufactured in Venezuela. These cigarettes
are distributed in Colombia by John Restrepo and Co.

 -Elizabeth Souder; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400