Italy on Saturday banned the sale of three brands of Philip Morris cigarettes for 30 days following the discovery of a huge contraband shipment.
The Ministry of Finance said the ban, the first ever declared by the government, prohibits the importation, distribution and sales of Marlboro, Merit and Muratti Ambassador filtered cigarettes until Jan. 14, 1992.Italian authorities confiscated eight metric tons of the contraband cigarettes in Ravenna late last month and arrested 17 people.
Cigarette sales in Italy are controlled by state monopoly, but there is a thriving black market.