Cigarette Smuggling On Rise in Maryland
21 people have been arrested for smuggling untaxed cigarettes in Baltimore County so far this year.
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Cigarette smuggling in Maryland is on the rise, according to Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot.
"We've got an epidemic of this smuggling in our state," Franchot said during a Thursday news conference in Towson with Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger.
Police confiscated 10,000 packs of alleged contraband cigarettes during a traffic stop near White Marsh. More than 3,100 packs were seized in a stop involving a Honda Accord two weeks ago.
The state comptroller said his office has prosecuted more cases of cigarette smuggling "in the last nine months than we have in the previous five years."
In Baltimore County, there have been 20 formal cigarette smuggling investigations since mid-2006 resulting in the arrest of 28 individuals. Twenty-one of those arrests have been in this year alone, according to statistics provided by the state comptroller's office.
The arrests have resulted in the seizure of more than 100,000 packs of cigarettes valued at $600,000.
"It's become the go to crime for not just for petty criminals, which it used to be, but for big time gangs," Franchot said. "When we interview them and say why are you engaging in all this cigarette smuggling they say there's more money in it than we get from heroin and the penalties are insignificant."
A carton of cigarettes that costs $41 in Virginia, where taxes run about 30 cents a pack, can be sold in Maryland for $62 and in New York for $112.
Franchot praised enforcement efforts in Baltimore County.
Shellenberger said cases of cigarette smuggling have "doubled over the last several years" primarily because of the county's proximity to the I-95 corridor.
"The penalties aren't great," Shellenberger said. "We have been fairly successful in getting some decent fines in these cases."
Of the 28 people arrested in the county, six people were found guilty of transporting contraband cigarettes—a crime that carries a penalty of a $50 fine per carton and or up to two years in jail, according to the comptroller's office.
Eight others were found guilty of possessing the untaxed cigarettes—a crime punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and or up to one year in jail, according to the comptroller.
One case was dismissed and and 13 others await court dates.
Bassist1956
10:32 am on Friday, April 27, 2012
Duh! Fact is this is our Great legistlators led by the putz has caused this. Heroin is cheaper than cigarettes, is that right!! Let's see how much longer the Olde Lyme States lasts with morons running it ?
John
1:47 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012
The proffit margin is greater for cigarettes than for heroin. The penalties for cigarettes are less than that for heroin. And it is the Old Line State.
Red Dolphin
4:37 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012
what about pot?
OWE MALLEY SUCKS
1:02 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012
JUST TAKE A TRIP TO VA OR NC YOURSELF AND BUY A FEW CARTONS
SCREW MARYLAND TAXES
Red Dolphin
4:36 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012
LOVE IT!! you tell 'em!!
Red Dolphin
4:39 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012
i quit smoking when I was 16.......... " take away the demand" wow! who would ve thought ,,,,,,,,, ok here goes,,,,,,,,, I say make them ilegal ( not gonna happen I know)
pots not good for you i know that, but cigarettes are worse!! who wants to dabate that?
Bassist1956
7:54 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012
If pot were legal too many people would lose their jobs and we world be forced to keep real criminals locked up. Ever seen lock-up and seen how many people are there for a bag of weed and then it supports the system. Legal,probation and on and on !!
jwyatt
10:18 am on Saturday, April 28, 2012
bassist, you sound very ignorant and uneducated on the subject of marijuana. it's been proven from time to time that prohibition has never worked and only causes more crime. open a book and learn for yourself. the stories you've been hearing about marijuana growing up aren't true. it's a new generation that knows the truth with all the information at our fingertips. not a generation living off lies told by their parents to get their kids to do what they want.
Reader
6:52 pm on Saturday, April 28, 2012
Taxing cigarettes as highly as Maryland has, is merely taxing those who can least afford it. People who know how to make money from such demand will look to fill that demand. Whatever % the state is confiscating is small potatoes compared to the amount that is getting through. I don't smoke but you can be assured that if I did I would go around the state's taxing policies in a heartbeat. Beer is my drug of choice and since the state has seen fit to increase the tax on that to what is now 9% I no longer buy it here but wait until I enter Delaware,where there is no sales tax, to purchase my brewskis. Maryland is totally out of control in its taxing policies but the dumb citizens of Maryland continue to pull the "D" lever for these hopeless tax and spend democrats.
moe green
7:08 am on Sunday, April 29, 2012
cigarettes in virginia, clothes and other high ticket items in delaware (no sales tax),
gambling in delawre (table games).
maryland, taxing and spending ot's way into the poor house. but keep those checks for the stay at home, no work, illegal alien crowd coming.
Suzanne Bair
8:56 am on Monday, April 30, 2012
Couldn't agree more Moe Green !!!!!!!!
DARRELL HAMMERBACKER
7:11 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012
they didn't learn any thing during the bootleg Era ,so now we have Tabacco smuggling.Keep raising the taxes and more smuggling will continue.Nothing like government creating more problems
DARRELL HAMMERBACKER
7:19 am on Thursday, May 3, 2012
OMally for President !!!! NOT!!!!!!