From: AP
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Syrian national living in Massachusetts has been sentenced to five years of probation for his role in bringing millions of contraband cigarettes into Rhode Island.
The sentence was imposed Thursday on Mohamad Mohamad in U.S. District Court in Providence. He must spend one year in a halfway house.
Mohamad, who lives in Cambridge, pleaded guilty previously to trafficking in contraband cigarettes
Under a plea agreement, he admitted he had nearly three million contraband cigarettes worth more than $505,000 in taxes when he was arrested in November.
Authorities allege Mohamad traveled to states with low cigarette taxes to buy cigarettes to sell in Rhode Island where the tax is $3.46 per pack.
Others have been arrested others in the scheme, which cost the state an estimated $5.7 million in taxes.
