OTTAWA — Former Conservative cabinet minister Diane Finley told a parliamentary committee this week she believes contraband tobacco sales financed “the blowing up of the Twin Towers,” as she argued against a government bill that would implement plain packaging for cigarettes. “There’s no doubt that contraband tobacco is used by international criminal groups, including terrorists, to finance their activities. Our primary concern is with the role that illegal cigarettes play in Canada,” the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco said in a statement to the National Post. On the broader point of contraband tobacco, Finley’s opponents were supportive. None on the health committee felt that illegal tobacco isn’t a problem, but they disagreed that plain packaging would do anything to substantially support organized crime.

Source: National Post March 02, 2018 23:37 UTC