RAMPANT smuggling of tea into Ethiopia has threatened thousands of jobs and prevented the sale of millions of dollars’ worth of the leaf, authorities said on Monday. “The huge amount of tea produce smuggled into Ethiopia from the neighbouring countries has reportedly caused 30m birr ($3.57m) worth of locally produced tea to be accumulated in stores,” an official told the official news agency ENA. Labour sources said some 8_500 jobs in the tea industry were threatened by the smuggling. – AFP