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Cigarette Smuggling Linked to Terrorism
Washington Post ^ | 06/08/2004 | Sari Horwitz

Posted on 06/08/2004 5:05:45 AM PDT by general_re

Smugglers with ties to terrorist groups are acquiring millions of dollars from illegal cigarette sales and funneling the cash to organizations such as al Qaeda and Hezbollah, federal law enforcement officials say, prompting a nationwide crackdown on black market tobacco.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has more than 300 open cases of illicit cigarette trafficking -- including several with terrorist links -- up from only a handful five years ago, ATF sources said.

"This is a major priority for us," said Michael Bouchard, assistant director of the ATF. "The deeper we dig into these cases, the more ties to terrorism we're discovering."

The lucrative trafficking of cigarettes, known as cigarette diversion, is a simple scheme but difficult to stop, law enforcement officials say. The traffickers purchase a large volume of cigarettes in states where the tax is low, such as Virginia and North Carolina, transport them up Interstate 95 to states such as Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey and then sell them at a discount without paying the higher cigarette taxes in those states.

With huge profits -- and low penalties for arrest and conviction -- illicit cigarette trafficking now has begun to rival drug trafficking as a funding choice for terrorist groups, said William Billingslea, an ATF senior intelligence analyst who has studied the issue extensively.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: jihadinamerica; pufflist; smoking; smuggling; taxes; terroristfunding; tobacco; wodlist
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To: Gabz
Since I rarely drink soda, I suggest we quadruple the recycle fee on it. And impose an excise tax on it, for the chilrun............

I'll have to give it up or mix my own.

181 posted on 06/08/2004 12:13:44 PM PDT by VRWC_minion
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To: general_re

Time to ban cigarettes and start blaming them for terrorism like they do marijuana. In fact, lets just ban everything while we're at it.

WOD ping.


182 posted on 06/08/2004 12:13:59 PM PDT by Indie (We don't need no steenkin' experts!)
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To: Know your rights

A British study found that SIDS deaths could be reduced by two-thirds if parents did not smoke.***

A U.S. analysis** of over 100 reports on pædiatric diseases concluded that children’s exposure to tobacco smoke is responsible for up to:

13% of ear infection
(approximately 220,000 ear infections in Canadian children)*

26% of tympanostomy tube insertions
(approximately 16,500 in Canada)

24% of tonsillectomies and adenoidectomies
(approx. 2,100 Canadian operations)

13% of asthma cases
(approx. 52,200 cases in Canada)

16% of physician visits for cough
(approx. 200,000 visits in Canada)

20% of all lung infections in children under 5
(approx. 43,600 cases of bronchitis in Canada and 19,000 cases of pneumonia in Canada)

136-212 childhood deaths from lower respiratory infection
(approx. 13-20 in Canada)

148 childhood deaths from fires started by tobacco products
(approx. 15 in Canada)

1868-2708 SIDS deaths‡
(approx. 180-270 in Canada)

* the number of Canadian cases is extrapolated from U.S. estimates
† [Samet, JM. Synthesis: The Health Effects of Tobacco Smoke Exposure on Children. January 7, 1999]
‡[California EPA. Final Report: Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke, Sept. 1997]
** Joseph diFranza and Robert Lew, Morbidity and Mortality in Children Associated with the Use of Tobacco Products by Other People, Paediatrics, 1996, 97:560-568].


183 posted on 06/08/2004 12:14:19 PM PDT by cinFLA
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To: Know your rights
This nation holds smokers in lower esteem than foreigners
184 posted on 06/08/2004 12:14:27 PM PDT by VRWC_minion
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To: Indie
It's not a ping if you don't add any names to the "To" line.
185 posted on 06/08/2004 12:16:11 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: cinFLA
Provide links and I'll see if I'm persuaded. Until then the burden of proof is not met.
186 posted on 06/08/2004 12:17:39 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: CSM
Do you advocate removing "tax exempt" status from churches and sticking it to tithers?

Actually, the deduction gives too much power to the gov't over churches. Everyone would be better off.

After all, by giving the churches tax exempt status, we are advocating religious activities by sticking the non-worshipers with the tax bills.

Except that the logic for churches is they are supposed to provide services that otherwise would be supplied by gov't thereby lowering the cost of govt.

I mean, I don't tithe much to "tax exempt" churches so it wouldn't hurt me.

Folks don't tithe to churches. They tithe to God. Everything you own belongs to God.

187 posted on 06/08/2004 12:18:02 PM PDT by VRWC_minion
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To: VRWC_minion
This nation holds smokers in lower esteem than foreigners

Please post the proof. Personally, I'd much rather have a tariff than a tobacco tax.

188 posted on 06/08/2004 12:18:55 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: cinFLA

"responsible for up to:"

Could be zero or it could be the number you posted. Much like Reagen was responsible for up to 500,000 AIDS deaths.


189 posted on 06/08/2004 12:18:56 PM PDT by CSM (Liberals may see Saddam's mass graves in Iraq as half-full, but I prefer to see them as half-empty.)
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To: VRWC_minion

This whole thread has gotten bizarre.........

The point of it is that extortionate taxes create black markets which invite unsavory characters to participate in illegal activities...........

The only ones at fault here are those imposing the ever increasing taxes. I don't blame the bootleggers or their customers.....I blame the impsers of the taxes for the problem.

It wouldn't surprise me if they are spending more to deal with the bootlegging and smuggling than they are making through the increased taxes.


190 posted on 06/08/2004 12:19:45 PM PDT by Gabz (RIP President Ronald W. Reagan 1911-2004)
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To: CSM
I don't tithe much to "tax exempt" churches so it wouldn't hurt me.

It is not how much one tithes, it is how much one deducts on their tax return that determins the amount of hurt the elimination of a deduction causes.

191 posted on 06/08/2004 12:20:45 PM PDT by cinFLA
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To: cinFLA

This thread is about cigarette taxes causing smuggling..not about SHS.....


192 posted on 06/08/2004 12:20:54 PM PDT by Gabz (RIP President Ronald W. Reagan 1911-2004)
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To: VRWC_minion

"Everything you own belongs to God."

Therefore, you advocate increasing the Government confiscation of God's property? Just in the name of keeping more of what you have? You would deprive God of his belongings so you could reduce your payments to the government?


193 posted on 06/08/2004 12:21:37 PM PDT by CSM (Liberals may see Saddam's mass graves in Iraq as half-full, but I prefer to see them as half-empty.)
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To: Gabz

Thanks for getting us back on track. Sorry for the derailment I caused.......I agree with your post, BTW.


194 posted on 06/08/2004 12:22:45 PM PDT by CSM (Liberals may see Saddam's mass graves in Iraq as half-full, but I prefer to see them as half-empty.)
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To: Know your rights
This nation holds smokers in lower esteem than foreigners Please post the proof.

When was the last time someone was refused service because they were a foreigner ?

195 posted on 06/08/2004 12:29:03 PM PDT by VRWC_minion
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To: VRWC_minion

You get weirder and weirder.


196 posted on 06/08/2004 12:34:36 PM PDT by Mears
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To: Know your rights; *Wod_list


197 posted on 06/08/2004 12:34:52 PM PDT by Indie (We don't need no steenkin' experts!)
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To: Gabz
The point of it is that extortionate taxes create black markets which invite unsavory characters to participate in illegal activities...........

This occurs with all sorts of products that have an excise tax on them not just cigarettes. Ozone depleting chemicals, tires, diesel, sports equipment to name a few. When the country was founded, the only taxes it had as a base was excise taxes, tobacco taxes was one of them. These excise taxes provided the economic conditions that allowed us to create a booming economy.

Even back then it was not without bootlegging.

The only ones at fault here are those imposing the ever increasing taxes. .

The taxes are being imposed on a luxury item which folks can choose to use or choose to avoid. No one is required to smoke and therefore the tax is voluntary.

I don't blame the bootleggers or their customers.....I blame the impsers of the taxes for the problem.

When there is a black market, bootleggers will surely follow as well as gov't laws to stop it. The current black market isn't going to last because the low tax states will increase their taxes.

It wouldn't surprise me if they are spending more to deal with the bootlegging and smuggling than they are making through the increased taxes.

Doubtful. All they need to do is go after a small percentage in order to scare the honest folks.

198 posted on 06/08/2004 12:36:17 PM PDT by VRWC_minion
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To: CSM

The nations are God's.


199 posted on 06/08/2004 12:37:16 PM PDT by VRWC_minion
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To: VRWC_minion
When was the last time someone was refused service because they were a foreigner ?

I don't see that as a good measure of esteem.

200 posted on 06/08/2004 12:39:10 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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