The second bill, called the "Sensible Tobacco Enforcement" bill, strengthens enforcement of discounted and smuggled cigarettes.

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Only after the BBC investigation did Mr Avey learn that Mr Lobethall had survived and that it was his smuggled cigarettes that had given him his chance.

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In it he described the soldier he knew only as "Ginger" who smuggled cigarettes, chocolate and even a letter from his sister in England into the Jewish camp for him.

BBC: Auschwitz hero Denis Avey in line for Israeli honour

Every day, at 17 border points, some 20, 000 Ukrainians cross into Hungary, Slovakia or Romania, where they buy food and clothes to sell back home, often in return for smuggled petrol and cigarettes, which are much cheaper in Ukraine.

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At the higher end of the trade, millions of cigarettes are smuggled from Andorra and Poland on lorries.

ECONOMIST: Smuggling

The margins on smuggled beer, wine and cigarettes are much slimmer.

ECONOMIST: Smuggling

The cigarettes were being smuggled into the country from Poland, Latvia and Romania by Milian Matei, 38, of Bowthorpe Close, Northampton, Dmitrijs Smirnovs, 26, of Benton Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and Aleksandrs Maculevics, 26, of Archer Road, also in Stevenage.

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Because the government knows that 25 percent of all cigarettes in Ireland are smuggled in already and cannot stop this classic expression of Irish anarchy, especially if it keeps adding profit potential for entrepreneurs of the streets.

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