Teaming up with officials from the Virginia State Police, Iredell deputies may have uncovered a cigarette smuggling operation. Iredell Sheriff Phil Redmond said members of the Interstate Criminal Enforcement (ICE) team spotted a 1998 Lincoln Navigator on Interstate 77 near the 61 mile marker around 9:15 a.m. Monday for a traffic violation. While speaking with the driver and occupant, the deputies noticed a large number of boxes in black trash bag ... Jump to full article >>

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The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Wednesday foiled two separate cigarette smuggling attempts. Duties and taxes on the 1,900 cartons of cigarettes amounted to some $144,000. In the first case, two Malaysians were caught at the Tuas Checkpoint for trying to smuggle contraband cigarettes hidden in a modified compartment within the floorboard of a consignment of hydrated lime. Preliminary investigations showed the Indian driver had b ... Jump to full article >>

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For years, buying low-tax North Carolina cigarettes and selling them on the black market in a high-tax state up north has been an easy way to make big money for criminal enterprises. Load up a van of Camels or Marlboros and reap a $100,000 profit to sell them if the destination is New York City, which has a $1.50-per-pack excise tax in addition to the $2.75 state cigarette tax. “The cigarette tax evasion stampede is out of control,” s ... Jump to full article >>

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Maryland’s recently enacted $1-per-pack cigarette tax increase has been a budgetary and public health success for which Gov. Martin O’Malley and the General Assembly should be proud. In the year after it took effect on Jan. 1, 2008, the cigarette tax increase brought $144 million in additional funds into the state coffers, which have helped to fund Maryland’s recent health care expansion. This expansion brought health care cover ... Jump to full article >>

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Seneca Nation officials think pending legislation before the U.S. Senate will mean the loss of 1,000 jobs, and they want to make sure everyone knows that. Last week, the Nation unveiled an electronic billboard along the eastbound I-190 warning Western New Yorkers of ramifications of the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act. “The PACT Act is being portrayed as a tool to fight cigarette smuggling. In reality, it will kill legitimate, treaty- ... Jump to full article >>

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WHITE PLAINS - A Yonkers man is among 21 cigarette-smuggling suspects charged with evading the state tobacco tax in a sting operation that also netted a cache of homemade bombs and weapons inside Cortlandt man’s home. The cigarette bust, which cost the state $21 million in lost taxes, was the largest of its kind in the United States, a state official said at a news conference this afternoon at the Westchester County District Attorney ... Jump to full article >>

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