Popular Posts

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Local Raids Linked To Cigarette Smuggling Ring That Funded Terrorist Groups


BERLIN -- At least two properties owned by two local businessmen were raided Wednesday by Homeland Security officials and New York authorities and the brothers have been linked to an organized effort to fund terrorist groups.

The Ramadan family owns several local businesses in the area, including convenience stores in Berlin and Ocean City, the Village Market in Ocean City and has at least partial stakes in several local franchises, such as Subway and Ledo’s Pizza, according to business records.

In Ocean City Wednesday morning, authorities stormed a condominium above the Subway on Sunset Drive and Coastal Highway and were seen confiscating items and seemed to be working a crime scene. In West Ocean City, in the Oyster Harbor community, a similar scene played out at the home of Basel and Samir Ramadan. Personal property was seized and vehicles were stripped and seized during searches.

More 

31 comments:

  1. Muslims no DOUBT!

    ReplyDelete
  2. lower the taxes and remove the profit incentive. oh no, can't do that

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes 11:55-Palestians. This makes me sick and sad. I know the younger brother and the father and used to buy my wine from one of the men (Basel I believe) who was arrested. While Basel always seemed a bit aloof and on edge the father and the younger brother are very pleasant. I don't believe they would condone this as they seem to be (hardworking) more interested in the almighty dollar than the almighty Allah.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 12:24
    I guess we will have to see how it all turns out. If they were mean to people they wouldn't make money. Sounds like a fake font to get you to hand over your money and you fell for it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I never handed the father or the brother a single cent 12:29. They are involved in the Subway shops and I'm not a fan of Subway food. Actually I bought my food literally 10 ft away from their shop and they were still friendly when they would see me even though I wasn't a customer only someone who ate often at a direct competitor.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I read the link at the bottom of the page on the dispatch.....this was a pretty big operation.

    Investigators recovered three guns and more than $1 million — some of which was stuffed into black plastic garbage bags — in a Maryland home linked to the ring.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 12:42, Duh!! you think they are going to be nasty or mean or disrespectful to ANYONE? If they are, there's a chance they piss off the wrong people and get caught. They are going to be nice and keep a low profile.

    ReplyDelete
  8. How did they enter this country? Who approved it? Where did they get the money to start a business here? And, the big question, is what kind of tax breaks did they get?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wait till Eric Holder and Obama hear of this stuff you White People did...boy the IRS will be all over you all.

    ReplyDelete
  10. 1:38-"Duh!!" Are you reading and actually comprehending the comments? It was the one brother who had a wine shop who was aloof and on edge all the time that's been arrested and charged. Not the father and other brother who are more friendly. Your comments make zero sense. The brother who also ran a business acted in a shady manner. Always seemed like a kinda nervousness going on with him and not much of a talker besides the customary thank you when purchase complete.
    Must be how he got caught-LOL-according to your 'wisdom' as he wasn't that nice and must have pissed off the wrong people. And a low profile-NOT! Try flashy.
    I know the Ramadan family also.

    ReplyDelete
  11. They've been here for forever 1:57-graduated from SDHS.
    Not sure how long but no accents at all. It's not much money to get into food franchise business and that's why a lot of foreigners do so. 1:38-low profile couldn't be a phrase to describe them. Try high strung. If it's the brothers who ran the shops at 9th St and 17th I recall several times cops were called to
    9th St for something or other in the past years.
    The father is David and the younger brother Murad and yes they are way more personable. The sisters also.

    ReplyDelete
  12. 2:03 and since you realized he was shady you reported him to the other muslim Obama right?

    ReplyDelete
  13. did they have the wine shop in Ocean pines the Noble Grape.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I don't think the Nobel Grape belongs to them but 9th Street and Village Market does. The one guy is known as Sal and high strung is an understatement. The places never did much business and you could tell they didn't want to be there but it's obvious now they used them to launder the cig money. Looks like no terrorist connection afterall which I didn't think was the case. These guys are all about the money and being flashy. I clearly remember the Mercedes they had years ago. It was the expensive around $70.000-$100,000 model.

    ReplyDelete
  15. wouldn't it be illegal for the cigarette store to sell thousands of cartons to one customer.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Amazing. They find over a million in cash in trash bags and these guys have a reputation in town for not paying their bills. Been sued for nonpayment numerous times.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Where did they do their banking? Something should've come up a long time ago if they were doing their jobs right. Bet it was a small community bank. Good 'ole boys makin dat money.

    ReplyDelete
  18. They had over a million stashed in their home 5:36 so no major money was being deposited. They used their business to "launder" some of the money so to look like they were making some money (enough to live on)in the businesses.

    ReplyDelete
  19. 7:56
    This was a statement in the press release from the AG in NY

    "The Ramadan brothers furthered the criminal enterprise by depositing more than $55 million from their untaxed cigarette sales into small local financial institutions in and around Ocean City, MD., and used that money to purchase additional cigarettes for illegal sale."

    I think that is what 5:36 was referring to.

    ReplyDelete
  20. How bad will the OC banks get hit with all that money taken out?

    ReplyDelete
  21. The Ramadan's have been know to be shady for years, at least two decades that I know of. Local LE have tried to get them on other charges. The Feds have investigated them before. Just like Al Capone, they finally get them on tax evasion. 17 months to do an investigation, that is much more involved than cigarettes. Confirmed ties to Hamas.

    Thanks for finally getting them boys, do let em off. Took NY to do it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Gerald, retired Detroit copMay 17, 2013 at 7:10 PM

    These guys have been funneling money to terrorist organizations for years. They also are very tight with the Muslims that run the Ledo Pizza shops around here; those guys also send money to terrorist organizations. The Muslims in Dearborn Michigan, also send money to terrorist organizations, in fact the FBI tracked marked $100.00 bills spent in shops in Dearborn and a little over a week later they were discovered on a dead terrorist in Iraq. With all of the proof about how 99% of all Muslims are terrorists themselves or support terrorists, why in God’s name do we continue to allow them to live in our neighborhoods, run businesses in our towns, and go to our schools? It is like letting your baby play with a rattlesnake, or a live grenade, it’s harmless to a certain extent, but piss it off or pull the pin and you’re dead! Sounds like a real smart way to live. We have Muslims infiltrating every aspect of our American way of life, but they only want in so we drop our guard then they can kill us! The Koran orders them to kill all non-believers in Islam or Allah. You’re not one of them, and then you are an infidel and must be killed!
    We need to push for immigration reform in this country, but not for the Mexicans, throw out the Muslims!

    ReplyDelete
  23. We need to push for immigration reform in this country, but not for the Mexicans, throw out the Muslims!

    May 17, 2013 at 7:10 PM

    Wrong. It can't be for only one nationality. It has to be for them ALL.

    ReplyDelete
  24. If you want to get rid of these shady "business owners" just boycott their enterprises. Its that simple. I'm retired from grocery distribution co. and seviced these places. If they are still in business they are cheating somebody or doing something illegal. The math doesn't add up.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I support anyone who tries to beat government taxation.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Victims of crimes should be outraged when they set bail at 12 million for cigarette smugglers but far less bail for violent crimes.

    ReplyDelete
  27. These brothers have not broken any MD laws so, what's the fuss (in MD)? Ok, so they may have broken NY tobacco taxation laws but why would the OC PD spend any taxpayer money to go after these people? OC police has bigger fish to fry like musicians who make too much noise.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Let me get this straight. This family has been investigated on numerous occasions on various allegations by several government agencies. They have come up clean every time. They work hard, pay their taxes and send their children to local schools. In this case they bought cigarettes legally in Virginia, paid the excise taxes, paid all income taxes when sold at a profit to folks that transported them to NY who resold them locally and avoided paying the excise tax. After 17 months of investigation the NY authorities and Homeland Security have found no connections to terrorist activities. Sounds like entrepreneurs to me.

    ReplyDelete
  29. So lets stop importing 3rd worlders into this country and patronizing their shops.

    ReplyDelete
  30. "Anonymous said...
    If you want to get rid of these shady "business owners" just boycott their enterprises. Its that simple. I'm retired from grocery distribution co. and seviced these places. If they are still in business they are cheating somebody or doing something illegal. The math doesn't add up.

    May 18, 2013 at 10:53 AM"

    I agree except in this instance easier said than done due to the seasonal nature of OC.
    I also don't think MD should concern themselves with cigarette smuggling out of state. NY created the blackmarket by taxing so they can deal with it though I think it was part of the plan to make government bigger with the jobs created to "investigate."

    ReplyDelete
  31. If you read the stories it clearly says the Palestinians in NY were the ones who had ties to terrorists not the Ramadan brothers. Someone took the Took the shipment from them to a separate network in NY that distributed to the stores. these guys were the middle men who had access to the supply. Terrorists in the U.S. don't openly admit that they are terrorists, I'm sure if they had an idea terrorist affiliates were working on the other end they probably wouldn't have taken the risk from being investigated I'm sure they were already making a good living before this. Also the investigations reported that it was clearly just these 2 involved down here and not the other family members who's name is now tarnished for things they didn't do. What they did was obviously wrong and illegal and they are now facing the consequences. But it is ridiculous how people automatically label them and their uninvolved family members terrorists, muslims, and ask how they got into the country when the whole country was founded on immigrants. If im not mistaken I believe their family came from Israel a long time ago and worked hard to build their businesses that do contribute to our country and its more likely they are jewish than muslim radicals. so educate yourselves before you slander the wrong people and tarnish their hard work instead of holding the right people accountable for the right thing

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.