Be happy, no butts, Bhutan’s smokers told
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THIMPHU — In the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu, a street vendor offering snacks and drinks is secretly selling cigarettes to two customers — a transaction that could put him in jail for five years.
In hushed tones, the young men ask for a packet of 10 and the contraband is handed over wrapped in paper and hastily shoved inside the large pouch at the front of their traditional tunics.
“You can find them all over, but you need to know someone,” one of the buyers said as he scuttled away. “It’s dangerous though. He (the seller) could land in jail.”
Anyone in Bhutan selling tobacco or found with cigarettes that have not been declared to customs has committed a non-bailable offense that carries a maximum five-year prison sentence..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110908com6.html
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