Special Offer Delta Red Cigarettes Delta Red Cigarettes $1425 Buy Now
Catalog
Voting poll

What do You most appreciate on this store?

Tell a Friend
Payment Instructions
Newsletters
Denim Jeans

Raids Uncover Cigarette Network

Four cigarette distribution and manufacturing companies have been raided, including one in north Mississippi, in the last two months as authorities continue a two-year investigation into an alleged cigarettes online black market.

Besides the Magnolia State, the black market network is believed to have ties to South Carolina and Kentucky, according to an FBI statement released Friday.

On May 26, a task force of federal, state and local law enforcement agents searched Global Distributing in Tupelo. The most recent raid was conducted Thursday at Holley Sales Group, a distribution company in Anderson, S.C. The FBI did not disclose what, if anything, was seized in those searches.

While the investigation has not yielded any arrests, "a number of subjects have been interviewed," the FBI statement said.

On April 14, the task force discovered more than 14,000 cases of contraband cigarettes worth millions of dollars in a warehouse in an undisclosed location in Mississippi. It was the largest contraband bust in U.S. history, according to the state auditor's office.

"We uncovered an intentional effort to defraud the taxpayers of Mississippi," State Auditor Stacey Pickering said. He estimated the unpaid state taxes on the cheap cigarettes at about $5 million, given that Mississippi's cigarette tax was increased recently from 18 to 68 cents per pack. Unpaid federal taxes could be millions more.

"During this tough economic time, every dime matters," the auditor said. The state collected about $58.3 million in cigarette excise taxes last fiscal year, according to the State Tax Commission.

Now, the auditor's office and the Tax Commission are working together to draft legislation that would allow the state to seize the discount cigarettes and sell them to recover those lost taxes.

"Under the current law, we can sell the cheap cigarettes at auction. But the problem is that the law was not written to anticipate something of this magnitude," Pickering said. "An example is that, under the existing law, if a dealer bought the online cigarettes at auction, the state tax stamp would have to be affixed before they left the state's custody. In this case, we're talking about 30 to 32 18-wheeler truckloads."

The logistics of stamping each box is not practical, he said. "The new legislation would simplify the process."

Pickering said he's hoping the legislation will be taken up by lawmakers when a special session is called sometime this summer. The governor determines the agenda of a special session.

"We can't afford to wait until next year. Cigarettes do have a shelf life," he said.

David Harper, special agent in charge at the New Orleans branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said trafficking in contraband discount cigarettes appears to be a growing crime.

"This task force was formed specifically to prevent criminal networks from profiting and flourishing from tax evasion through the interstate transportation and sale of contraband cigarettes," Harper said in a written statement. "ATF has seen significant increases in this type of fraud. Dismantling the head of an organization will have a huge impact, but the best way to address this problem is by attacking the entire network."

The investigation into the network is ongoing, and officials say more raids are possible.

Other cigarettes news and tobacco market events you can find at links bellow:

   • Cheap Cigarettes News

   • Cheap Cigarettes & Tobacco News

   • Discount Cigarettes Tobacco News





The term cigarettes, as normally employed, refers to a tobacco cigarette, but can be utilized like devices holding in other herbaceous plants, such as eugenia caryophyllatums. A cigarette is differentiated from a cigar by its modest sizing, utilization of treated leafage, and paper wrap, which is usually white hot, though other coloring materials are sometimes usable. Cigars are mostly compiled totally of whole-leaf tobacco plant.

Rates of cheap smokes changes widely, and have altered substantially over the course of human history since cigarettes were 1st wide used in the mid-19th century. While rates of smoke have over time leveled off or turned down in the highly developed world, they continue to up-rise in evolving states. Nicotine, the main psychotropic chemical substance in baccy and therefore cigarettes, has been shown to be psychologically habit forming, although it does not generate a physiologic addiction.

Cheap cigarettes usage by pregnant women has also been shown to stimulate birth defects, including mental and physical disabilities.