According to that report, the isthmus loses about 165 million dollars in direct taxes, since the country enters 15 monthly containers of cigarettes to local ports, which has become a problem that affects public health, state finances and citizen security.

The money generated by the illegal sale of cigarettes goes directly to gangs and organized crime, said the regional director of Crime Stoppers, Alejo Campos, as it is linked to activities such as money laundering, drug trafficking and corruption, collaborating closely with gangs in charge of distributing the product.

“We are talking, basically, that out of every 10 people who smoke, nine are consuming a product that is totally illegal, which implies that they do not pay taxes,” he said.

According to Campos, people see it as a very distant reality, but in the end the gangs in Panama, as in other countries in the region, are operational arms of larger structures of organized crime, since they sell the product, facilitate the logistics of cigarette smuggling and generate daily funds.

He also warned that cigarette smuggling is a kind of small box to finance operations of all kinds, such as buying ammunition, sending money into the prison or paying small bribery fees.