Richard Marianos: Route 95 is the new Tobacco Road for cigarette smugglers

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and the General Assembly recently wrote a tough game plan to fight the explosion of tobacco smuggling under way along Route 95, “The New Tobacco Road,” a problem that is robbing taxpayers and the state of millions of dollars and stretching far beyond the borders of the Ocean State. This tougher new stance comes on the heels of a major state and federal breakup of a Providence-based smuggling ring responsible for $1.2 million worth of contraband cigarettes and a Rhode Island tax loss from this group alone of over $1 million, real money that could have been used for schools, roads or other vital programs. This criminal enterprise was not a mom-and-pop operation, but a sophisticated scam to move cheaper cigarettes from Virginia to Rhode Island for sale at huge profits. One smuggler donned his U.S. Army uniform and drove his contraband loaded truck with Rhode Island Veterans plates to conceal the crime and attempt to curry favor with law enforcement.