A Byproduct Of the Higher Cigarette Tax?
This investigation below appears to have been going on for some time, but some convenience store owners have warned of more illegal cigarette sales as the result of New York’s increased sales tax on cigarettes, which ballooned to $2.75 a pack this week.
Here’s the latest bust from the state’s press release:
The state Department of Taxation and Finance Commissioner Robert L. Megna today announced the federal indictment of 27 illegal cigarette traffickers who laundered money, sold millions of counterfeit tax stamps and purchased large quantities of cigarettes in Virginia for resale in New York and Michigan.
The 17-month-long investigation concluded late Tuesday when nine indictments against the 27 people – 21 of whom are from New York City or Yonkers – were returned in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Charges against the 27 people included criminal conspiracy, trafficking in contraband cigarettes, money laundering and felony possession of firearms and ammunition. Nineteen of the suspects are in custody.
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