Smokers of some cigarette brands in The Gambia are no longer deriving the same passion and pleasure from their favourite brands as many shop shelves across the country are now stocked with counterfeited tobacco products, JollofNews can report.
The flavour and texture of high-selling cigarette brands such as Bond Street and Piccadilly have all dropped considerably, JollofNews learned from many consumers and vendors.
In 2024, the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) introduced the digital tax stamp on taxable goods and according to the country’s main revenue collection agency, the idea was to shore up its revenue collection and to minimise or eliminate smuggling of goods.
However, shopkeepers who spoke to JollofNews said some of the counterfeited tobacco products are brought into the country from across the border in Senegal.
“Right now, all the cigarettes sold in The Gambia are substandard, except Marlboro Light and Benson & Hedges. They produce fake cigarette brands in Senegal for sale in The Gambia,” a shopkeeper claimed in an interview with JollofNews without providing any evidence.
“They are falsified cigarettes, yet they bear the digital stamp provided by the GRA,” one consumer wondered.
JollofNews could not establish whether the digital stamps on the counterfeited tobacco products being sold in The Gambia have been directly provided by the GRA or through a third party as efforts to reach the Authority’s press department proved futile.
