JACKSON, Miss. — A federal sentencing hearing has been rescheduled in the case of a Florida man convicted in Mississippi for his role in a multistate cigarette smuggling operation. Mitchell Sivina, of Doral, Fla., pleaded guilty in May in U.S. District Court in Oxford, Miss., to money laundering and transporting stolen cigarettes. Court records show Sivina’s sentencing has been delayed from March until April 4 due to a scheduling con ... Jump to full article >>

EIGHT men have been charged over the theft of a massive £1.1m haul of cigarettes from Southampton docks. A gang used a stolen lorry and trailer to take 300,000 packets of American Legend cigarettes from a unit at the city’s port on June 7. The charges come following an investigation by Hampshire’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit. Six men have all been charged with conspiracy to steal the cigarettes, as well as the lorry and trailer ... Jump to full article >>

A Kentucky tobacco wholesaler paid $205,000 in 2006 to buy part of a load of stolen Marlboro cigarettes, according to documents filed Monday in federal court in Mississippi. The businessman, Charles H. Wells of Hopkinsville, pleaded guilty in Mississippi recently to fraud charges. He admitted taking part in a scheme to report that cigarettes were sold in Mississippi when in fact he sold them in Kentucky, avoiding a Kentucky tax and escrow fee. B ... Jump to full article >>

The search for millions of dollars of cigarettes stolen from an East Peoria warehouse on Sunday has reached as far as the New York and Miami areas, authorities said Wednesday. Detective Kevin Beckman of the East Peoria Police Department said stolen semi trucks and trailers that have been recovered include one trailer found abandoned Tuesday on the New Jersey Turnpike near Newark, N.J. About 12:30 a.m. Sunday, East Peoria police responded to a br ... Jump to full article >>