Tobacco Piracy Continues

If you distract the police with enough other problems, the “little things” get swept under the rug, much like broken windows I suppose. That seems to be the case with the ongoing plague of tobacco piracy in high sin tax states. New York is one of the biggest hotbeds for these activities, since a combination of state, county and city taxes have driven the price for a pack of Marlboros past $15 in many places. That’s too much temptation for criminals, and they are still flooding the zone wherever they can get away with it. Two sets of pirates still somehow managed to get caught this month though, and they are symptomatic of the larger problem. The first was a relatively small haul on Interstate 81. (From Penn Live) The second bust involved the feds and brought in a much larger haul after an extensive investigation. This one was nothing short of a major smuggling ring which had been going on for years and involved dozens of smugglers and local businessmen.

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/07/20/tobacco-piracy-quietly-continues-unabated/