Eight Indicted in Illegal Cigarette Ring

Source from:  By ED WHITE Associated Press Writer September 9, 2008  09/11/2008

Federal investigators went undercover to break up a scheme to peddle millions of illegal cigarettes and avoid Michigan's $2-a-pack tax. The loss to state coffers: more than $1.6 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "This is a group of people involved in trafficking for quite some time," spokesman George Krappmann said Tuesday. "Anytime the state of Michigan loses tax revenue, it's significant." An indictment unsealed last week in federal court says the cigarettes were delivered to small stores in the Detroit area, sometimes from the trunk of a Mercedes-Benz car. The cigarettes didn't have a tax stamp or had a counterfeit one. The indictment names eight people, including a father and three sons, who are accused of conspiring to launder money and deal in illegal cigarettes. ATF agents went undercover for more than a year after getting a tip in 2006. State police also worked on the case. The main defendant is Akram Allos, 54, of Sterling Heights, who is repeatedly described in the indictment as buying cigarettes from an informant and an undercover agent. His largest haul: 949,000 cigarettes on Oct. 10, 2007, according to the indictment. Allos was unavailable for comment at his home Tuesday. A message was left with his attorney, Jeffrey Collins. Krappmann said the defendants spent nearly $2 million to acquire the illegal cigarettes for resale in stores. "They had over 82,000 cartons," he said, which adds up to more than 16 million cigarettes. Michigan's cigarette tax was tied for fourth-highest in the country as of Jan. 1, making the state ripe for illegal imports. The tax in South Carolina, for example, is just 7 cents. Michigan collected $1.13 billion in taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products in the 2006-07 fiscal year, said Terry Stanton, spokesman for the state Treasury Department. Enditem