Illicit Cigarette Trade Funds Terrorism and Organized Crime

KIEV, Ukraine, June 18, 2010 - There is clear and convincing evidence that large sums are being siphoned
from the multi-billion dollar revenues from the global cigarette smuggling
trade into the pockets of terrorist networks and international organized
crime.

A United Nations Security Council investigative body, the Group of
Experts, has reported that millions of dollars in illicit tobacco revenues
are reaching al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorist organizations, and is
financing Congolese rebels for the recruitment of child soldiers, mass rape
and murders.

The World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
has determined that 600 billion counterfeited and smuggled cigarettes cross
national borders annually. This represents USD $50 billion in lost proceeds
affecting nations throughout the world. The most recent edition of the
authoritative Tobacco Atlas, released by the American Cancer Society and
World Lung Foundation also concluded: "Cigarettes are the world's most widely
smuggled legal consumer product."

Despite disturbing trends in many other nations, the Ukraine, with a
population of 45 million, and with porous borders, has an extremely low rate
of 1.7% of its total market in contraband tobacco. The Ukraine utilizes the
EDAPS Tax Stamp System to control the illicit sales of products and EDAPS is
now offering comparable systems to other nations.

"Our hologram technology and enforcement methodology with our Track &
Trace System, enables government agencies to not only substantially increase
their revenues from the sale of excisable products but to dramatically block
illegal uses that often fund transnational criminal and terrorist
activities," said Alexander Vassiliev, Chairman of EDAPS.

Since 9-11, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
has reported that smugglers with ties to terrorist groups were acquiring
millions of dollars from illegal cigarette sales and funneling the cash to
al-Qaeda and the Taliban. At the same time, the booming black markets are
fueling not only terrorist groups but dozens of organized crime gangs, who
find the big profits and low risk hard to resist, according to the latest
study by the Center for Public Integrity.

The first large-scale cigarette trafficking case tied to terrorism was
prosecuted in North Carolina in 2002. A federal jury in Charlotte convicted
Mohamad Hammoud, 28, of violating a ban on providing material support to
terrorist groups by funneling profits from a multimillion-dollar
cigarette-smuggling operation to them. Prosecutors were able to prove that
huge profits from the venture were sent to high-ranking terrorist leaders.

"This is a major priority for us," Michael Bouchard, assistant director
of the ATF told the Washington Post. "The deeper we dig into these cases, the
more ties to terrorism we're discovering."

A Congressional study prepared by the U.S. House Committee on Homeland
Security — "How Cigarette Smuggling is Funding our Enemies Abroad" –
concluded, "Recent law enforcement investigations have directly linked those
involved in illicit tobacco trade to infamous terrorist organizations."

A report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists –
"Tobacco Underground" — charts the paths of smugglers working for the
Taliban and others. The report explains how the multibillion-dollar business
fuels organized crime, robs governments of tax money and spurs addiction.

As the Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice concluded at their meeting in Brazil last month, "Organized crime and
terrorism pose greater threats to international peace and security than ever
before."

"We are confident that our EDAPS Tax Stamp System can substantially
contribute to global efforts to cut off essential funds from those engaged in
a wide range of transnational crime and terrorism," Vassiliev concluded.

Olga Lyubimova, +38044-5612570 ext. 11, Fax, +38044-5612545