Monthly Archives: February 2012

From: DNAInfo.com

By Meredith Hoffman

From: Minnesota Star-Tribune

Article by: PATRICK FLEENOR

Raise it, and people will try to avoid it. And that often will lead to smuggling.

Earlier this month, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced that it had broken up a ring that smuggled millions of packs of cigarettes from Virginia to New Jersey, where state officials estimate that bootleg cigarettes constitute 40 percent of the market.

“The trafficking of contraband tobacco is all about greed from the enormous profits that can be made by engaging in such criminal activity” said Special Agent in Charge Matthew Horace.

From: ABS-CBNNews.com (Philippines)

MANILA, Philippines – Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) president Jesus Aranza on Tuesday warned the government that increasing the excise taxes for tobacco may result to proliferation of smuggling that will eventually lead to the demise of local industries.

Aranza attended Tuesday’s congressional hearing of the committee on ways and means as a resource person on the economic impact of the proposed House Bill 5727.

He said smuggling incidence in the country will rise should Congress pass the bill that seeks to impose steep excise tax rates on alcohol and tobacco products. “If you put high tax on cigarette, or on anything, it creates an atmosphere, a haven of smuggled goods,” Aranza said.

From: BBC

Seven members of a smuggling gang who illegally imported 20m cigarettes disguised as toys through a Suffolk port have been jailed.

The operation, described as complex and sophisticated, was planned to avoid £3.3m in importation duty, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

The group were caught at the Port of Felixstowe in November 2009.

They received sentences of between two and four-and-a-half years for conspiracy to evade excise duty.

Paul O’Meara, 48, of Sudbury, Suffolk, was described as the “lynchpin” of the scheme which was bankrolled by 47-year-old Robert Doran, a millionaire businessman who lived in Dubai.

From: The Grocer (UK)

By Ronan Hegarty

More than a quarter of all tobacco smoked in the UK is either fake or smuggled – costing the country billions of pounds in lost tax revenue.

The latest figures from Japan Tobacco International show that although HMRC has enjoyed some success in tackling illicit tobacco, counterfeit and smuggled tobacco is still a major problem, with up to 27% of all tobacco smoked being non-UK duty paid.

From: DelmarvaNow.com

BERLIN — State Police arrested two people late Wednesday for moving 4,600 packs of cigarettes across state lines, from Virginia into New York.

Troopers charged Demba Maiga, 41, of Greensboro, N.C., and Mussa Cisse, 25, of Bronx, N.Y., with transport and possession of untaxed cigarettes. Both were arrested and taken before a Worcester County District Court Commissioner.

It was about 11:15 p.m. Feb. 15 when a Trooper pulled over a grey 2004 Honda Accord with North Carolina plates for an “equipment violation” on northbound Route 113 near Harrison Road in Berlin.

 From: STV

The lawyer of a man accused of arranging the murder of his brother has told a jury it was not planned.

Toby Siddique, 38, was allegedly shot in the head on the orders of his brother because of a long-running row about the running of their property company.

Mo Siddique, 42, denies being part of a plan which led to a Bulgarian hit-man pushing a pistol into his brother’s face in a flat in Glenrothes, Fife.

In his closing speech to a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh today, defence QC Derek Ogg insisted: “It is not a conspiracy it is a cock-up.”

From: NJ.com

By Michael Williams

SALEM — A city store owner charged in an alleged $9.6-million conspiracy to obtain and sell contraband, untaxed cigarettes was denied bail in federal court Friday.

Wael “Wally” Khasharmeh, 38, of Gibbstown, and owner of the AMW Supermarket, located at 136 W. Broadway, was denied bail by U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider in Camden federal court, according to authorities.

Khasharmeh was arrested Tuesday along with five others in connection with the alleged conspiracy, but is the only one who remains in custody without bail, authorities said.

By Staten Island Advance

A former NYPD police officer and a New Jersey corrections officer both pleaded guilty to federal charges yesterday of participating in a conspiracy run by law enforcement officers — including five Staten Islanders — to illegally transport assault rifles, stolen slot machines and cigarettes across state lines.

NYPD Officer Marco Venezia, 46, of Brooklyn and New Jersey Corrections Officer David Kanwisher, 39, of Tuckerton, N.J., both pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport firearms interstate and one count of conspiracy to transport and receive stolen merchandise.

From: NACS Online

Findings suggest that one in seven packs of cigarettes is contraband, resulting in billions of lost revenue a year in unpaid taxes as well as increased health risks for consumers.