Chesterfield Police say four men drove around and bought cigarettes from gas stations in Virginia, hoping to turn them around for a profit out of state. It's a problem NBC12 has been investigating for some time. And Lawmakers are working hard to keep people from doing it.
Mohamed Ahmed el Moijtaba, Mohamed Jiddou, Ely Amar,and Elhacen Ouldelhakem all face a charge for Selling, Purchasing or Possessing Tax-Paid Cigarettes.
Trafficking cigarettes is against the law, but the profits to be made on it in Virginia are huge. Criminals are making thousands buying here where taxes are lower, and selling out of state.
That's exactly what police say the four men in Chesterfield were up to. Special investigators tasked with cracking down on cigarette trafficking reported following the four men from gas station to gas station in the area. At each stop. police say they loaded up on cartons of cigarettes.
Investigators followed the four men to a storage facility in Chester and police say they found 40 cases of cigarettes in the trunk of the car.
Police say the men were not licensed dealers and they lied about having all those cartons of cigarettes. Plus, they were at a storage unit, which is a dead giveaway to police.
Detectives say in cases like this one, criminals will use storage units like this one to hide even more cases of cigarettes.
Here's why cigarette trafficking is so attractive to criminals. In Virginia, taxes cost just $3 a carton. In New York, the taxes are $58.50 a carton.
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