Hidden sale of illegal tobacco products on a rise amidst ban

Banned tobacco products are still being sold by many Asian dealers in Manama, Tribune investigation reveals. Despite many crackdown efforts by the authorities, many Asians mainly of Bangladeshi and Indian nationalities continue to sell illegal tobacco products, sources say.

The chewing tobacco products are banned to be imported or to be sold in the country. Most of the sellers work at cold stores; however most of them do not sell the products from inside the shops. Instead they store the products either at their apartment or at a secret location.

The tobacco products being sold include a variety of chewing tobacco and snuff. Paan - a substance made of betel leaf and tobacco, gutka - tobacco and crushed betel nuts, niswaar (powdered tobacco snuff ) are among those being sold. “Most of the dealers are cold-store workers. But they do not go around offering it to anyone; they just keep in a secretive location and sell it only to those who know them. “They may hide it in their apartment and invite their customers somewhere near their residents and sell it from there. They would only sell to those who they know,” a reliable source told Tribune.

Tribune witnessed many cold-store workers hiding the illegal products in a box near the public trash can. When a customer visits the shop to purchase the products, a worker rushes to the dumpster and discretely pulls out the illegal products and hands it over to the customer.

“They will not keep it in their shops because they are worried about inspection by the authorities. This is why they keep in near the dumpster. But they are watchful of their products; they would not let anyone steal it.” While most sellers did not agree to sell to Tribune as they only sell to regular customers, one of the sellers agreed to sell a piece without any further questions. “It is 300 fils a piece,” he said, and proceeded to take it from a box hidden in the shop. Unlike others, the seller did not store it outside the shop.

“Most shops do not sell it to strangers. They are extremely worried about inspectors either from the Ministry of Interior or the Ministry of Health busting their operation. There have been crackdown efforts after authorities sent officials to inspect. In one of the shops, the seller was seen going to get the product from an apartment located nearby and came back to hand over the product to the customer, a transaction Tribune discreetly filmed.