Editor’s Note: For more information about the Ramadan brothers, please see our previous posts, Multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling ring with terror links busted, Ramadan Brothers Extradited One Week After Local Arrests; 300-Page Indictment Details Lengthy Conspiracy, Ramadans have OC business licenses, Samir Ramadan, alleged cigarette smuggling ringleader, held on $15 million bail, A third Ramadan brother cites fallout from pair’s cigarette smuggling case, Ramadans To Appear In Court, Business Owners: Cigarette Smuggling Hurts Small Shops, Ramadan Brothers Remain In Custody After Hearing, Ramadan Indicted On Murder-For-Hire Charges; Authorities Say He Orchestrated Plot From Prison, and Ramadan Attorneys Dispute Terrorism Link, To Fight Murder-For-Hire Charges.
From: The Dispatch | Serving Greater Ocean City Since 1984
OCEAN CITY — Two years after the raid on his Ocean City business and West Ocean City home, the trial for Basel Ramadan, ringleader of a vast multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling ring who was later charged with attempted “murder for hire” from behind bars, will likely begin as early next month.
In May 2013, federal officials concluded an investigation into a multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling operation with raids on two locations in and around the resort area including the West Ocean City homes of local business owners Basel Ramadan, now 44, who was called the “ringleader” and “boss of the enterprise,” and Samer Ramadan, 42, who was called the “enterprise treasurer.” Federal officials on the same day also raided the Ramadans’ offices over the Subway restaurant they owned at Sunset Drive near 26th Street in Ocean City.
