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Eleven indicted for smuggling tobacco
Associated Press
FILE PHOTO
Smugglers find that evading cigarette taxes may not be worth the risk involved-up to 25 years in prison and fines totalling over $250,000.
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Eleven people accused of buying and selling contraband cigarettes in order to evade Michigan taxes have been indicted on racketeering charges, federal authorities announced Tuesday.
In separate documents, prosecutors allege some of those charged donated profits from the cigarette trafficking to the militant group Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization in Lebanon.
The indictment unsealed Tuesday charges each of the 11 with conspiracy to commit a pattern of racketeering activity, including contraband cigarette trafficking, possession of counterfeit cigarette tax stamps, credit card fraud, money laundering, arson and witness tampering.
The defendants are accused of buying cigarettes in North Carolina and the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in New York, then bringing them to Michigan to be resold, according to U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Cigarette taxes are $12.50 per carton in Michigan and 50 cents per carton in North Carolina.
Cigarettes are not taxed on the reservation.
The defendants would at times use fraudulent credit cards to purchase the cigarettes and then use counterfeit stamps to make it appear that Michigan taxes had been paid, the indictment says.
“The federal indictment of these individuals sends a message that crimes of this nature will not be tolerated,’’ said Gregory Holley, special agent in charge of the ATF Detroit Field Division.
The defendants face up to 20 years in prison and fines totaling $250,000 if convicted.
Elias Akhdar also is charged with traveling between Michigan and New York in aid of committing arson.
That charge stems from accusations that some of those indicted set fire to the Indian Express tobacco shop--located on the Cattaraugus reservation--in 2001 after taking cigarettes from the store and sending them to Michigan.
Elias Akhdar faces up to 25 years in prison and fines totaling $500,000 if convicted.
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