Illegal sales of electronic cigarettes are taking place on “Telegram” channels; there is no plan to combat it

From the first of January next year, a ban on the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes will come into force. Devices are already freely available in underground markets and Telegram channels, but no one has a plan how to fight against it.

The circulation of illegal goods has been talked about on the communication site “Telegram” for a long time. It is considered one of the most popular apps where you can buy a wide variety of goods that are prohibited in official circulation. Not only organized crime groups, but also ordinary individuals operate underground.

We made sure of it ourselves. By signing up to the app and surfing through various channels of banned goods. The range of goods found there is wide: from items that are still freely available in stores, such as electronic cigarettes, vapes, and the like, to hard drugs. A criminal penalty can be received both for the sale and purchase of such goods. It is also possible to buy escort services and even fake money.

Rihards Kozlovskis

Minister of the Interior (“New Unity”)

“That’s the reality. We could talk not only about electronic cigarettes, but unfortunately, the circulation of narcotic substances is also taking place. The Telegram channel is one of the troublesome factors. This is today’s reality and, of course, also various new methods of how narcotics are distributed, which in any case make this work more complicated.”

With Telegram as a seller, its buyer can maintain their anonymity. Deals close quickly. Nowadays, the anonymity of making transfers is also easier than ever. When combined with the use of a delivery service to transfer the package, the illegal transaction becomes almost untraceable. In other cases, so-called drops can be made – hiding the product in a pre-arranged place.

You don’t have to look long to find the product you like. There are larger channels where different individuals or groups trade at the same time. These groups are like virtual marketplaces where a person can choose the one he likes from different providers. Many are not shy about promoting their illegal business.

Buying goods is also not difficult. For example, one of the channels identified by “Neka personala” offers a wide range of electronic cigarettes, as well as the opportunity to choose the most convenient delivery method. You can meet the seller in person or use a parcel machine.

Correspondence with the seller:

NP (“Nothing Personal”): Hello, can I buy?

Seller: Hello, you can.

NP: “Vozol neon” and “HQD cola” available?

Seller: There is only HQD.

NP: So you can have two?

Seller: Where do you need to go?

NP: Can I go to Domina parcel?

Seller: Ok, “Omniva” 4 euros. The total will be 18 euros.

The groups mostly include offers to use the most popular parcels – “Omniva” and DPD. “Omniva” knows that not everyone uses parcels to send only authorized goods. The company’s warehouse is visited relatively often by the State Police and the Customs Administration, which also discovers illegal shipments from time to time.

Andris Eglajs

Head of Shipment Services of “Omniva Group”.

“We are talking about well below 1%. We process around 50,000 shipments here every day. Here we are talking about some average ones. Very rare indeed.”

DPD did not respond to the program’s questions.

Such transactions are not allowed. The law states that it is prohibited to buy all kinds of cigarettes on the Internet. The penalty for both selling and buying is identical – up to 200 euros for a person, and up to 700 euros for a company. The implementation of this provision is monitored by the State Revenue Service. The service’s ability to limit the sale of illegal goods on the Internet is limited, which is why there have been calls to change the law.

Santa Garancha

Director of the SRS tax payment promotion department

“The way we can do something, when we have such legal rights, is to ask our internet service provider to block certain addresses in the territory of Latvia. This is when talking about the Internet. If we talk about Telegram and all these communication apps. There we have tried to understand what we can do. […] Here, we have done everything we could, and we have come to a wall where we cannot go any further, because we are unable to identify the person who it is and what sanctions to apply further.”

The SRS raised claims already during the development of the draft law approved in January. The authority believes that the ban will contribute to the growth of uncontrolled trade. At the moment, the service does not undertake to predict what the volume of work could be after the ban comes into force and whether it will be able to cope with it. Statistics on the number of detected violations are not collected there, so it was not possible to say what the trends in the underground market trade are in recent years.

According to the visible images on the “Telegram” channels, it is clear that the tasty cigarettes arrived in Latvia illegally. Suppliers are proud to share product images. In most cases, the warning about the danger of smoking to human health is in a foreign language. Detection of such crimes is within the competence of customs. It is claimed for the program that electronic cigarettes were illegally imported into Latvia only by airplanes. Cargo carried by machines or ships is not accepted.

Linna Mukane

Airport customs control point supervisor

“At customs, we mostly detect electronic cigarettes directly in mail and courier shipments. The trend is that the volumes of illegally shipped e-cigarettes are decreasing. Decreases significantly. Compared to 2022 […] Nearly 10,000 cigarettes were confiscated that year. Many administrative and even a couple of criminal proceedings have been initiated. Consequently, these volumes are decreasing. Last year only 200 units were confiscated.”

For such a violation, if it is committed on a small scale, no penalty is applied. It takes too many resources. Therefore, if it is a few electronic cigarettes in one shipment, then most likely customs will confiscate it, but no one will be punished.