British American Tobacco’s Continued Involvement in Illicit Tobacco Trade
October 20, 2026
The University of Bath, a partner in STOP, searched 15,000 internal documents from British American Tobacco and surfaced disturbing findings, presented here in two papers.
In the first paper, researchers uncovered an apparent coordinated effort by BAT to orchestrate illicit trade of its own products, including working with distributors known to be involved in smuggling.
The second paper suggests that, despite apparently working with governments to curb illicit trade of tobacco products, BAT was in fact using its anti-illicit trade program to spy on competitors, disrupt their supply chains and conceal its own illicit activities.
Learn more about BAT’s activities and apparent participation in the illicit tobacco trade.
