ICAIE White Paper: Operationalizing ITP’s Article 24 Working Group to Optimally Fight Illicit Trade
Fueling Transnational Organized Crime: Illicit tobacco is a lucrative cash cow for criminal entrepreneurs and threat
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Fueling Transnational Organized Crime: Illicit tobacco is a lucrative cash cow for criminal entrepreneurs and threat networks.
WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, October 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — David M. Luna, Executive Director, ICAIE, is pleased to announce the release of our latest ICAIE White Paper: “Operationalizing ITP’s Article 24 Working Group to Optimally Fight Illicit Trade and Strengthen International Cooperation Across Borders”.
As the international community prepares for the 5th Meeting of the Parties (MOP5) to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (ITP) in Yerevan in 2027, we stand at a critical juncture. Globally, roughly 1 in every 10 cigarettes consumed is illicit representing over 500 billion illicit cigarettes annually and draining nearly $50 billion in tax revenues from governments each year (including €14.9 billion in lost excise and VAT in the EU alone).
Beyond these massive financial losses, the illicit tobacco trade carries devastating real-world consequences:
Undermining Public Health Initiatives: By flooding communities with unregulated, duty-free, and cheap—often counterfeit or substandard—alternatives, illicit tobacco directly undermines national tax and price control policies. It makes cheap tobacco products easily accessible to youth and vulnerable populations, eroding critical public health safeguards and smoking cessation efforts.
Fueling Transnational Organized Crime: Illicit tobacco is a lucrative cash cow for criminal entrepreneurs and threat networks. Operating as part of a broader $6 trillion global illegal economy, organized crime groups exploit shared trafficking routes, free trade zones, and ports to move illicit tobacco alongside narcotics, weapons, and counterfeit goods—using the proceeds to finance money laundering, corruption, and wider cross-border security threats.
While 71% of Protocol Parties report having national coordination mechanisms, only 33% actively engage with international partners on criminal investigations involving illicit tobacco. Broad commitments to cooperation are no longer enough. We must move toward an actionable, intelligence-led enforcement agenda.
Co-authored by David M. Luna, with Dr. Mahmut Cengiz, this white paper outlines how the FCTC ITP’s Article 24 Working Group can convert general principles of cooperation into practical, cross-border enforcement strategies. Drawing on practical lessons from international frameworks (including UNTOC, UNCAC, FATF, WCO) and ICAIE’s Hubs of Illicit Trade (HIT) framework, we set out key recommendations to:
Break Down Institutional Silos: Unify health authorities, customs, police, tax agencies, financial intelligence units (FIUs), and prosecutors into operational networks.
Target High-Risk Corridors: Utilize HIT mapping to identify key transit hubs, ports, and manufacturing input channels (e.g., acetate tow, paper, and machinery) where organized crime operates.
Follow the Money: Mandate parallel financial investigations, trade-based money laundering (TBML) checks, and cross-border asset recovery for major tobacco seizures.
Advance Digital Interoperability: Support standards-based, interoperable tracking and tracing systems to operationalize the Global Information-Sharing Focal Point (GISFP).
We invite policymakers, law enforcement leaders, health officials, and anti-illicit trade stakeholders to review our report and join us in translating treaty obligations into tangible, cross-border disruption of illicit networks.
Find Below ICAIE’s Full ICAIE White Paper: “Operationalizing ITP’s Article 24 Working Group to Optimally Fight Illicit Trade and Strengthen International Cooperation Across Borders”:
David Manuel Luna
International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE)
+1 202-875-9484
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