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العربية
ISIS has recently captured a number of civilians in west Deir Ezzor countryside after it accused them of creating a secret cell with the aim of smuggling cigarettes into ISIS-held territories of Deir Ezzor.
D24 correspondent in the western countryside indicated that, “At least three civilians from the village of Kharita, west Deir Ezzor countryside, were recently arrested by ISIS after they had been accused of forming a secret cell whose main purpose was to smuggle cigarettes into ISIS-run areas of Deir Ezzor”.
ISIS has banned the selling of cigarettes in its held areas, which has caused some to smuggle them using several means, including stocking oil tankers with cigarettes to sneak them into Deir Ezzor secretively.
Cigarettes smugglers have benefited from the ISIS-imposed ban on cigarettes by raising their prices; one single pack of cigarettes costs now more than 1000 Syrian lira, enabling them to earn imaginery amount of money..
