More - Bhutan - police searching homes to finds contraband tobacco..

January 12, 2011 - Bhutan police can raid homes of smokers in a search for contraband (illegal,illicit) tobacco and are training a special tobacco sniffer dog in a crackdown to honor a promise to become the world's first smoke-free nation.

Buddhist Bhutan, where smoking is considered bad for one's karma, banned the sale of tobacco in 2005, but with a thriving tobacco smuggling operation from neighboring India, the ban failed to make much of an impact. But legislation passed [to start] in the new year, granting police powers to enter homes, is set to stub out the habit, threatening five years in jail for shopkeepers selling tobacco and smokers who fail to provide customs receipts for imported cigarettes. (Bhutan - strict tobacco control law went into effect January 1, 2011..; Bhutan - strict application of the Tobacco Control Act to come into effect from January 2011..)

Smoking in private is not illegal in the Himalayan kingdom, but as the sale of cigarettes is banned, smokers are restricted to 200 cigarettes or 150 grams of other tobacco products a month that can be legally imported. And they must provide a customs receipt when challenged by police. The Bhutan Narcotic Control Agency has started raids, with officials allowed to enter homes if someone is seen smoking or if officials have reason to believe there is illegal tobacco there.

Reference: Police raid homes to stub out smoking habit, writing by Henry Foy; editing by Robert Birsel, Reuters, 1/11/2011.

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