From: Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE — A federal magistrate judge Tuesday ordered two men charged with being part of an interstate cigarette smuggling ring held without bail.
Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond denied a bail request by Wissam Khalil and continued a hearing for his brother, Bassam Khalil.
In Wissam Khalil’s case, Almond cited the fact that Wissam Khalil was on bail from an April 2012 state cigarette smuggling charge when he was indicted on the federal smuggling charges last week.
Bassam Khalil’s status hearing was continued to give him time to hire a lawyer.
Federal investigators charge the pair were part of a six-member ring that smuggled about 6 million cigarettes into the state from Virginia, costing Rhode Island $1 million in lost taxes in 2012-13.
