Turkmenistan bans cigarettes, holds mass burning

The president of Turkmenistan has banned the sale of all tobacco products to promote healthy living in the country, according to reports.

Shops allegedly face fines of up to £1,200 if they are caught selling cigarettes, according to Chrono-TM, an independent website reporting on Turkmen affairs from Vienna.

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Thousands of cigarettes were burned in the country and state television showed them being shovelled into a stove.

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is said to be obsessed with healthy living and has featured in TV reports enjoying outdoor activities, such as cycling and fishing, the BBC reports.

Turkmenistan's media is controlled by the government and is listed by Reporters Without Borders as the country with the third-worst press freedom in the world after North Korea and Eritrea.

The Independent reports that Atadurd Odmanov, the head of the State Service for Protecting the Security of a Healthy Society, was stripped of the military rank of colonel and threatened with dismissal for not encouraging smokers to quit.

Local businesses in the capital Ashgabat say they were ordered to stop selling cigarettes when officials "came to our shop recently and forced us to remove cigarettes from the shelves, threatening us with huge fines".

Bairam Saryev, 34, said his shop was targeted in a series of raids across the country, the Daily Mail reports.

Another trader said they are now only selling under-the-counter cigarettes to regular customers and friends.