1.   As early as the Brezhnev era, criminal gangs based in Russia were active in such activities as housebreaking and cigarette smuggling.

2.   A number of senators remained skeptical that the United State could control cigarette smuggling.

3.   Activists are campaigning for a tough document that would include a global ban on advertising, a crackdown on cigarette smuggling and elimination of subsidies for growers.

4.   But he said cigarette smuggling could be avoided if Congress enacted a rigid system of licensing tobacco wholesalers, exporters, importers and distributors.

5.   Europeans and Americans did agree on steps to curb cigarette smuggling.

6.   Europeans and Americans did agree on steps directed at curbing widespread cigarette smuggling.

7.   He noted, for example, that most governments are on record as opposing cigarette smuggling.

8.   He noted, however, that the suspects were also charged with cigarette smuggling, a more routine crime that does not raise the same civil liberties issues.

9.   In the last decade, the volume of cigarette smuggling around the world has nearly tripled, according to a leading tobacco research organization.

10.   Industry spokesman Scott Williams denied that tobacco executives were involved, adding that the industry wants to prevent cigarette smuggling.