BAT tobacco manager attacked

The attempted kidnapping of an international tobacco company manager outside his home in Sydney suggests crime syndicates are hitting back at efforts to combat the booming illegal tobacco trade, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.

A criminal syndicate is suspected of ordering the botched kidnapping in June of a former decorated New South Wales policeman turned manager of British American Tobacco.

The BAT manager was stabbed and bashed by at least three men, after he refused their order that he get into a car. A source was quoted by the Herald as saying that the manager was forced to “fight for his life” to ward off the kidnappers, who have not been identified.

He was rushed to hospital after the attack.

The attack appears to be an unprecedented escalation in the struggle between policing agencies and the syndicates driving the illegal tobacco trade. Evidence suggests the attack was linked to BAT’s support of police inquiries.

Police and big tobacco companies believe the illegal trade is driven by the escalating cost of licit cigarettes, and is now worth more than $1 billion. Budget measures mean a licit pack of cigarettes will cost $40 by 2020, compared with as little as $10 for a smuggled pack.

The full story is at: http://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-tobacco-executive-bashed-and-stabbed-in-failed-kidnap-attempt-20160811-gqqds1.html.