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 ...
Funny hearing you talk about people being demonized, when you write: "The real terrorist is the parent that smokes in enclosed spaces with their child."
What are you suggesting here? Should parents lose custody of their children if they smoke?
"Every nation has its power from God."
Regardless of their actions when ruling? Would you take the stand that GWB disobeyed God by toppling the SH regime?
The IRA always used cigarette and diesel smuggling rackets to fund thgeir operations. Even now the ceasefire is in place major roberies still occur in the republican heartland of south Armagh. Just recently the major haulage and tobacco companies announced they would no longer send cigarette shipments overland from Belfast to Dublin or vice versa because the risk was too bad.
And just think: our wonderful lawmakers who smoke buy their cartons TAX FREE in their commissary's. Sucks, I say!You're kidding. Man. There oughta be a law .....
Even though truth hurts, I stand by it.
Are you suggesting that parents should lose custody of their children if they smoke?
Legalize cigarettes and diesel fuel and all the dealers will quit and become upstanding citizens.
No, I'm asking you that question, since it seems to be the logical conclusion to what you are suggesting.
You stand by saying that the real terrorists are not those who fly planes into buildings and kill thousands, but those parents who smoke in front of their children. Good for you.
NY Taxes Fund Terrorists!!
Another case in which the Mob rescues the USA is now a-brewing. Wouldn't it be fun to watch?
The world can have more than one terrorist. A parent that holds his kid hostage on an auto and makes him breath smoke is a terrorist of the worst kind. A parent is supposed to protect their child not abuse him.
Technically, it's illegal to buy cigs over the Internet from Indian reservation/non-taxed, and NOT report such purchases on your State income tax form.
Something that I do religiously, of course </sarcasm
Mathematics 101:
5,000 cartons purchased at $30./carton is $150K.
5,000 cartons SOLD at $50./carton is $250K.
Truck rental, 1-day, round-trip: $500.00
EBITDA: $99,500.
Well, I'll give you points for standing by your ridiculous, over-the-top hyperbole when you're called on it.
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