Editor’s Note: Cigarette trafficking is violent. ATF does not become involved in cases unless they have a “nexus” to violence.
From: The Virginian Pilot
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The two admitted selling dozens of cartons of cigarettes at a time to black marketeers who would deliver them to New York and Pennsylvania, where cigarette taxes are much higher than in Virginia. The two were arrested earlier this year after selling contraband cigarettes to undercover federal agents.
Agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives last year became concerned about the store when they noticed a dramatic increase in cigarette sales, which the agency tracks. An undercover agent posed as a cigarette smuggler from Pennsylvania, buying 90 cartons that he said he planned to resell in Philadelphia without paying that state’s taxes.
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After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, federal agents discovered that proceeds from contraband cigarette sales were funding terrorists. Though no such links were discovered in this case, the ATF has increased its investigations into illegal cigarette sales since then.
