A trip to Jeddah helps Makkah smokers ditch smugglers

The black market in cigarettes has been thriving since a smoking ban in Makkah was introduced in 2004 with prices nearly doubling.
In Jeddah, the price of a pack of Winston increased this month from SR 4 a year ago to SR 8, Marlboro from SR 5 to SR 9 and Davidoff from SR 7 to SR 9. This has put pressure on street peddlers who usually bring cigarettes in bulk from Jeddah into the holy city to sell on the streets.
Mohammed Manakha, a resident smoker for 11 years, told Arab News: "Since the ban first began, a pack of cigarettes that usually costs SR 6 has been sold for SR 15, but since prices have gone up elsewhere each pack has increased to around SR 20."
Other smokers say since prices have exorbitantly increased in Makkah, they have decided to make weekly family trips to Jeddah to go shopping and purchase cigarettes for themselves.
Faiz Al-Otaibi, a security guard living in Makkah, said: "I usually take my family to one of the hypermarkets in Jeddah to shop for groceries and other needs and while we are there I can conveniently purchase cigarettes without paying such high prices."
In addition to the cigarette ban, the holy city's municipality in April closed down shisha cafés within the Haram boundary to help make Makkah a smoke-free zone.
Questions remain over whether or not the initiative over the past eight years has been effective.
Hani Abdullah, who works near the Grand Mosque, said: "I can see a positive difference when touring the city and I think this is due to the anti-smoking program."
He added that some challenges have emerged because of the ban such as the black market of certain goods, higher prices and other illegal activities.
According to authorities, violators caught selling cigarettes or shisha products in the holy city will be fined up to SR 10,000.
In Jeddah, where there is no such ban, a salesman at Top Shop, a tobacconist located at the Othaim Supermarket complex on Sari Street, said that prices for most cigarettes increased by one riyal on June 24 after the supplier, Mohamed Said Fakhry Company and Partners, hiked prices.
"I was told to increase prices by one riyal every month for the next few months until cigarette prices double," the salesman said. "This is not an increase by Top Shop only, but an increase that will be reflected all over the Kingdom."
A representative of Mohamed Said Fakhry Company and Partners in Jeddah said that the price increase was ordered by Phillip Morris, one of the largest cigarette manufacturers in the world.
"Phillip Morris is charging more for cigarettes in line with an international agreement to increase prices all over the world to make cigarettes less affordable in the hope that it will encourage many to quit," he said.
He denied the increase was ordered by the relevant authorities in Saudi Arabia. "This has nothing to do with the authorities in the Kingdom and shouldn't be looked at as a tax on cigarettes."
Essam Al-Ghalib contributed
to this report.