Repeater
Regular Member
First, the story here:
Crime commission to seek action against cigarette trafficking
I'll tell you all something: I've seen this. I've seen this along the Midlothian corridor.
{The following may be offensive to impressionable lurkers}
I've seen dark-skinned muslim-looking foreigners driving up in vans with out-of-state license plates at certain convenience stores that also sell gasoline (I'm leaving unnamed but you figure it out).
These men get out of the van one at a time, go inside and order the maximum: 5 cartons. Then they pay in CASH. They usually have EXACT CHANGE. The guy exit the store; the next one comes inside; repeat.
The driver usually does not go inside; instead he's usually on his cell phone watching the situation around him. He looks with hostility at any person watching him or the van. When the last person gets in the van, it leaves. Usually, it will go to ANOTHER store. Repeat. And repeat. I have to wonder if they're armed. Imagine a confrontation.
Honestly, it's scary, what I've seen. Somebody gonna get killed.
Having said all that, the proposed solution potentially concerns me: making the ABC more like the ATF. What do you all think about that?
Crime commission to seek action against cigarette trafficking
The Virginia State Crime Commission is drafting legislation aimed at illegal cigarette trafficking following a closed briefing from law enforcement agencies earlier this month.
The commission chairman, state Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-Williamsburg, said he was alarmed by the pervasiveness and sophistication of the trafficking and said the legislature and the public needs to be educated about of the threat.
Norment and state Sen. Janet D. Howell, D-Fairfax, did not comment on the specifics of the 2½-hour closed-door meeting. But, said Howell, "We're finding that the ties to organized crime and terrorism are real and the trafficking is increasing."
"For Virginia, it's not just the revenue loss, but we're bringing bad players into our commonwealth," Howell said. "They're setting up shop here and particularly down the (Interstate) 95 and 81 corridors."
...
Last year (Senator Janet) Howell prompted a Crime Commission study of the illicit trafficking that continued this year. "What little did I know," she said. "I thought it was a minor problem. I had no idea it was going to be this serious."
In May, for example, New York authorities announced the arrests of 16 Palestinians, some with connections to terrorist organizations, who allegedly shipped 1 million cartons of cigarettes from Virginia to New York making an estimated $65 million profit.
Just last month two of the defendants were also charged with conspiracy to commit murder after allegedly plotting via telephone from the Rikers Island jail to kill witnesses.
The trafficking is bringing the state the same kind of unwanted attention it once drew as a major source of firearms for illegal gun traffickers.
A story last November in The Economist began: "The busy interstate highway that zips through Richmond, Virginia, and up to the crowded cities of the north-east has long been a conduit for handguns bought wholesale in Virginia and sold to drug-dealers in New York. Now I-95 is siphoning northwards another form of contraband: black-market cigarettes."
....
Virginia's excise tax for a carton of cigarettes is $3 while in New York City it is $58.50.
Virginia, with the second lowest cigarette tax in the country, is located near states with some of the highest taxes. A carton of cigarettes that sells in Virginia for $40 to $45 costs $120 to $150 in New York City.
A car load of 750 cartons driven from Virginia and sold in New York without paying New York taxes can mean a profit of nearly $43,000.
Virginia is unlikely to increase its excise tax while states like New York are unlikely to decrease theirs. "The solution is obvious, but there's not the political will to do it," Howell said.
As a result, Virginia is a top source state for cigarette traffickers. The General Assembly stiffened some laws during the last two sessions in response to the dubious distinction -- but the problem appears to be worsening.
The illicit trafficking is so lucrative it has corrupted some investigators, led to murder and assaults, has been linked to terrorist organizations and leads to ancillary crime such as fraud and money laundering.
I'll tell you all something: I've seen this. I've seen this along the Midlothian corridor.
{The following may be offensive to impressionable lurkers}
I've seen dark-skinned muslim-looking foreigners driving up in vans with out-of-state license plates at certain convenience stores that also sell gasoline (I'm leaving unnamed but you figure it out).
These men get out of the van one at a time, go inside and order the maximum: 5 cartons. Then they pay in CASH. They usually have EXACT CHANGE. The guy exit the store; the next one comes inside; repeat.
The driver usually does not go inside; instead he's usually on his cell phone watching the situation around him. He looks with hostility at any person watching him or the van. When the last person gets in the van, it leaves. Usually, it will go to ANOTHER store. Repeat. And repeat. I have to wonder if they're armed. Imagine a confrontation.
Honestly, it's scary, what I've seen. Somebody gonna get killed.
Having said all that, the proposed solution potentially concerns me: making the ABC more like the ATF. What do you all think about that?
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