The Turkish Government losses $2.5 Billion (4.5 Billion Turkish Liras) in tax revenue each year due to cigarette smuggling activities, according to the Confederation of Turkish Craftsmen and Tradesmen.
Out of all cigarette packages smoked in the country, one out of every five packages are smuggled into the country. In the southeast region of Turkey, the smuggling rate increases to one in two cigarette packs.
Back in 2010, an estimated $1 Billion was lost to the illegal tobacco trade.
Source: “Huge tax revenue lost in cigarette smuggling,” Hurriyet, January 8, 2013.
An international human smuggling ring was broken up by Europol in November 2012 that was smuggling people from Iran in to various countries of the European Union. According to a press report, the human smuggling were charging migrants $$23,315 (€18,000) to be transported by car from Iran into Turkey and Greece, where the migrants would then move across the EU.
Source: “Iranian human smuggling ring busted in Europe,” Kuwait News Agency, November 27, 2012.
According to news reports, the price of a kidney sold on the black market in India is around $1,000 (55,000 Indian Rupees). In India, the prison term for illegally selling a kidney is five years in prison.
In Romania and Moldova, the price to purchase a black market kidney is $2,700. In Turkey, the price of the kidney goes up to $10,000.
See more kidney and organ prices on the black market.
Source: Peter Hummel, “Kidneys on special offer,” Deutsche Welle, July 31, 2012.
Around 90 percent of the illegal immigrants who are smuggled into the European Union enter by crossing the Maritsa (or Evros) river between Turkey and Greece. The migrants pay human smugglers up to $10,000 (7,950 Euros) to guide them into the EU. On heavily traveled days, up to 500 people illegally enter the EU a day through this route.
Worldwide, the black market in human smuggling is worth $2o Billion a year.
Source: Andres Ulrich, “At the Mercy of the People Smugglers,” Spiegal Online, May 24, 2012.
Police reported in 2012 that it had discovered around 500,000 people in Turkey illegally gambling on 400 different gambling websites.
The servers of the websites were located in Cyprus, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The website operators would allow new clients to quickly win a small amount of money to get the person hooked, and the change the odds heavily in the favor of the website.
Police reported that the owners of gambling websites are in control of the games and can determine who wins or losses.
Source: Serkan Saglam, “Illegal foreign gambling websites threatening Turkey,” Today’s Zaman.
The counterfeit goods market in Turkey is estimated to be worth $6 Billion in 2011, double the market value of $3 Billion in 2010.
Counterfeit purses are the most counterfeited product made and sold in Turkey.
Source: Constanze Letsch, “Turkey cracks down on counterfeit goods,” Guardian, October 17, 2011.
The national police stated in a report that up to 2.7 million tons of fuel is smuggled into Turkey each year, causing losses of $2.5 Billion in tax revenue.
Statistics from the government of Turkey shows that 70.5 million liters of smuggled fuel was seized in 2010.
Source: Thomas Seibert, “As economy booms, demand for black market fuel soars in Turkey,” National, September 23, 2011.
In 2010, law enforcement in Turkey recovered over 68,000 antique items from nearly 5,000 black market smugglers.
Source: Omar Erbil, “Turkish museums’ storage crowded with smuggled artifacts,” Hurriyet Daily News, August 8, 2011.
Drug trafficking in Turkey generated $1.7 Billion in 2010, according to a report by the Istanbul Chamber of Public Accountants and Financial Advisers.
Human smugglers in Turkey made $440 Million moving illegal migrants out of the country.
Source: “Illegal business activity revenue totaled $4.76 billion in 2010,” Today’s Zaman, August 1, 2011.
959,486 packs of smuggled cigarettes were found in Turkey in 2010, an increase of almost 50 percent from the 448,092 packs found in 2009.
38,219 bottles of smuggled alcohol were discovered in 2010, an increase of 63 percent from the 23,459 bottles discovered in 2009.
There was also an increase of counterfeit alcohol bottles in Turkey, with 14,012 bottles found in 2010, up from the 1,062 bottles found in 2009.
616 people in 2010 and 597 people in 2009 were charged by the criminal justice system in Turkey for smuggling alcohol and cigarettes within Turkey’s black market.
Source: Ankara, “High alcohol, cigarette taxes in Turkey promote smuggling, fraud,” Hurriyet Daily News, May 5, 2011.
