Monthly Archives: September 2016

From: Fox8 New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) – In a federal indictment of six men, three law enforcement officers were charged Thursday with trafficking in cont raband cigarettes.—

New Orleans police officers Justin Brown and Joshua Carthon and Orleans sheriff’s deputy Garrett Partman were arrested Wednesday along with Jadallah Saed and Anwar Abdelmajid-Ahmad, both of Gretna, and Atalla Atalla of Wilmington, N.C. They’re accused of conspiring to evade federal tobacco taxes.

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From: Patch.com

Cigarette traffickers stock up in low-tax states like Virginia and sell them in New Jersey for a huge profit, police say.

From: NJ.com

By Noah Cohen

NEWARK — The victim of a Newark carjacking turned out to be a suspect in an investigation that led authorities to seize two vehicles with a haul of counterfeit cigarette tax stamps and more than $18,000, authorities said Wednesday.

Merysol Mendez-Reyes, 51, of Newark, was arrested Sept. 20 after police responded to a reported carjacking and shots fired near Highland and Delavan avenues, according to the city’s Department of Public Safety. A man told officers he ran from a carjacking while one of the attackers fired at him with a handgun.

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From: Herald.ie

Luke Byrne

They are known as “illicit whites” – cigarette brands that can only be bought on the black market.

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Studies have found that the illicit cigarettes contain more carcinogenic properties than regular ones.

Insect eggs and even human faeces have been discovered in some of the illicit white tobacco products. The American-based Centre for Public Integrity was one organisation that looked into the problem.

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From: Whale Oil Beef Hooked

by Cameron Slater

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Police believe the black market is fuelling armed robberies and burglaries, with criminals targeting dairies and stealing tobacco products for resale rather than for personal use.

King says: “There’s going to be people shot over it [tobacco]. Someone is going to get killed.”

Customs are dreaming and the Police are picking up the pieces. At the select committee a few years back I told them this would happen, I also told them how easy it was to get hold of illicit tobacco. In Auckland a phone call and a bag of cash can get you a 40 foot container full of illicit tobacco inside 24 hours. I offered to prove it to the MPs, but they turned me down.