Monthly Archives: January 2018

From: Sioux City Journal via Lincoln Journal-Star

IAN RICHARDSON

WINNEBAGO — The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives swarmed three sites owned by Ho-Chunk Inc. Tuesday as part of an ongoing investigation into its tobacco operations.

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Ho-Chunk has been in conflict with government entities over whether certain record-keeping provisions of the Contraband Cigarettes Trafficking Act (CCTA) apply to tribal entities.

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From: Conservative Home

By Harry Phibbs

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Often it is normal cigarettes being sold – perhaps provided to shopkeepers by gangs with people going back and forth to Poland on cheap flights bringing in all they can carry. But even worse are the counterfeit cigarettes. Nick de Bois, the former Conservative MP for Enfield North, was brave enough to oppose plain packaging for this reason. In his memoirs, Confessions of a Recovering MP, he says:

From: Burlington County Times

Assembly Health panel advances proposed ban on sale of menthol cigarettes

Assemblyman Herb Conaway, who authored the legislation to ban the flavor of cigarettes, said he remains undeterred by the opposition as he pushes to make New Jersey the first state in the nation to outlaw the cigarettes, made famous by brands such as Newport, Salem and Kool.

TRENTON — New Jersey lawmakers on Monday took their first step toward banning the sale of menthol cigarettes, over the objection of convenience store owners, who argue that the restriction would devastate their tobacco sales.

Editor’s Note: See, Cigarette Smuggling and Cyber Security: Low-Tech Crimes Fund High-Tech Threats.

From: US Department of Justice/U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia

Ringleader Sentenced in Credit Card Fraud and ID Theft Scheme

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Portsmouth man was sentenced today to nine years in prison for his role as a ringleader in a credit card fraud and identity theft scheme.

According to court documents, Travon Williams, 33, organized and led a conspiracy where over two and a half years, members purchased thousands of stolen credit and debit card numbers from blackmarket websites, encoded those stolen numbers onto fraudulent credit cards, and then used those cards to buy merchandise including gift cards and cartons of cigarettes.

From: Miami Patch

2 Plead Guilty To Smuggling Phony Newport Smokes To Miami

As if smoking wasn’t bad enough, two men pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle $4.4 million in counterfeit cigarettes into Miami.

By Paul Scicchitano

MIAMI, FL — As if smoking wasn’t bad enough, two men have pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle $4.4 million in counterfeit cigarettes into Miami from India. Abhishek Shukla and Harish Shabhai Panchal acknowledged that they conspired with Jubilee Tobacco Industries Corp. to bring over phony cigarettes that were “substantially indistinguishable” from American-made Newport cigarettes.

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