Smuggled cigarettes

2015, June 10


Author: Justinas Stacevičius

About one third of the cigarettes sold in the Baltic countries are smuggled, and within the last few years those numbers have only been growing. This has become a considerable economic problem damaging the country’s business and finances. But some people have no other choice:  if they want to survive, they have to join those who sell smuggled stuff. They have to live in constant fear of being caught by the police and are kept only by a hope of a chance to live one more day without suffering from hunger.

This is a story about an old, ailing woman. She lives with her 46-year old alcoholic son who shamelessly sponges on her expecting her to provide him with food, a roof above his head, cigarettes, and money for alcohol. He has never had any regular job himself, which inevitably forces his elderly mother to resort to smuggling for their survival.

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