Cigarette Smuggling Linked to Terrorism

Washington Post ^ | 06/08/2004 | Sari Horwitz

[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.

[CSM]

High taxation used as a tool to modify behavior funding Terrorism!

Headline correction ping!

[GulliverSwift]

Media's spin: When you smoke a cigarette, you promote terrorism

[theDentist]

Smoking Cigarettes Supports Terrorists
Women, Minorities Hurt Most

[Gabz]

The law of unintended consequences....................

[Conspiracy Guy]

Is this going to be the new cigarette warning label?

"ATTORNEY GENERAL'S WARNING:
Smoking Promotes Terrorism. And It's Bad
For Labratory Rats.

[Hanging Chad]

"...including several with terrorist links...up from only a handful five years ago..."
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I need to put this in my handy list of weights and measures.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Several > Handfull
- - - - - - - - - - - -

[sheltonmac]

"The deeper we dig into these cases, the more ties to terrorism we're discovering."

Hmmmmm. Looks like this is an attempt to justify government power-grabs like the Patriot Act.

If they really want to crack down on black market tobacco, why don't they try cutting taxes? That's the only reason there's a black market in the first place.

[Gabz]

If they really want to crack down on black market tobacco, why don't they try cutting taxes?

Because that would take some common sense and intestinal fortitude to either cut spending or tax something else to replace it.

[saveliberty]

Naturally. So of course it should be taxed more. Does this butts for gunners?

[TrueBeliever9]

This has been going on for 7 years and I think it is time that the public is made aware of this. The biggest bust came when citizens at a store in NC saw a couple of Arab men buying huge quantities of cigarettes and alerted the police. I personally saw Muslims in my own neighborhood walking out of a condo with garbage bags filled with cigarette boxes but I did not know what was going on. Cars came from MI, NY, NJ and MD to make pickups. They are also huge smokers - throwing their butts everywhere - which is another way of thumbing their noses at Americans. I really think it is good to make the public aware of a common practice and, hopefully, more people will turn them in by collecting license plates.

[zeugma]

Anyone who thinks the mob is going to let terrorists take over this rather lucrative enterprise needs to have their head examined. Do they really expect us to believe that terrorists are getting funding from moving smokes from low tax to high tax states? They think we're morons you know.

[The Mayor]

serious ties with this in Buffalo.

Remember the lackawana 6

[BSunday]

This is getting to be like "everything gives you cancer". Pretty soon downloading music from kazaa will be supporting terrorism.

[aruanan]

Cigarette Smuggling Linked to Terrorism

Government Greed in the Form of Tobacco Taxes Linked to Terrorism

[joesnuffy]

Profiling mulsims between the ages of 18 and 40 might be a tad easier on Americans

[megatherium]

The CDC says smokers on average lose 12 to 13 years of their lives. I suppose that includes the risk of being blown up by terrorists.

[joesnuffy]

Profiling mulsims between the ages of 18 and 40 might be a tad easier on Americans

[Eastbound]

The header should have been,

'High Tobacco Taxes Create Blackmarket for Terrorists'
Nico Nazi Plans Backfire

Tea taxes cause revolution.