Jessica Miller | January 4, 2012
For the 15th time, a man police call the “cigarette bandit” struck again, this time stealing 68 cartons of smokes Tuesday morning from a South Tampa convenience store. He just can’t kick the habit: Police say that, so far, he has stolen more than $30,000 worth of cigarettes from South Tampa gas stations and convenience stores. Police believe he is targeting businesses in the early morning hours, smashing or prying his way inside.
Category: Cigarettes Business, Contraband Smokes |
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Tags: cigarette bandit
Jessica Miller | December 20, 2011
So-called “smoke shacks” may have their detractors, but there’s no denying their popularity. During one afternoon last week, QMI Agency monitored a 7/11 store on Christina St. in Sarnia for one hour and saw two packs of cheap Sobranie cigarettes sold. During another one-hour period the same day, 56 vehicles drove up to a smoke shop on Indian Rd., a roadside trailer advertising food, drinks, and “$2 Royals.”
Category: Contraband Smokes, Tobacco Policy |
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Tags: cheap sobranie cigarettes, contraband tobacco
Jessica Miller | December 12, 2011
U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, shared his opinions about the proliferation and consequences of contraband cigarettes last week in Politico, a Capitol Hill publication. King wrote that the “failure to strongly combat the growing crime of contraband cigarette smuggling deprives governments of billions of dollars in tax revenues — siphoned off by terrorist and criminal organizations.” Using his home state of New York as an example — which has the highest cigarette excise tax in the United States — King suggests that as cigarette taxes increase, so has the illegal activity by some retailers to bypass wholesalers and acquire and sell counterfeit-stamped cigarettes.
Category: anti-smoking regulation, Contraband Smokes |
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Tags: contraband smokes, tax-free cigarettes
Jessica Miller | December 2, 2011
Some 4000 cartons of contraband cigarettes were found on a fishing boat after it was stopped by an AFM patrol boat last night. Patrol boat P61 detected the locally-registered fishing boat Crystal Starlight east of Malta. Following a verbal challenge the AFM crew decided to board the vessel. Once on board they noted a significant amount of cigarettes and loose tobacco that were clearly not intended for the personal consumption of the crew.
Category: Contraband Smokes, Tobacco Sales |
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Tags: contraband cigarettes
Jessica Miller | November 11, 2011
Central Division Police yesterday began what they called a “crackdown” on illegal cigarette vending in the Chaguanas borough. During an exercise, led by Senior Supt Edward Castillo, of the Central Division, two vendors were arrested by officers along the Chaguanas Main Road for contravening the Tobacco Control Act 2009. Police said a 44-year-old man, of Cashew Gardens, and a 33-year-old woman, of California, were arrested and charged under Section 15.1 of the act which prohibits the display of cigarettes for sale in T&T.
Category: Cigarette Business, Contraband Smokes |
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Tags: illegal cigarettes
