Ramadans To Appear In Court

OCEAN CITY -- Two local residents, indicted by a New York grand jury in May for allegedly being the ringleader and enterprise treasurer of a vast cigarette smuggling and money laundering operation with possible links to terrorism, are scheduled to be back in court Monday for the next step in what will likely be a lengthy legal process.

In mid-May, federal officials concluded an investigation into a vast, multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling operation with raids on two locations in and around the Ocean City area including the West Ocean City homes of local residents and business owners Basel Ramadan, 42, who has been called the operation’s “ringleader,” and Samer Ramadan, 40, who is being called the “enterprise treasurer” of the operation. Also indicted were 14 other alleged co-conspirators, from transporters to distributors to resellers, who were also rounded up at locations all over the mid-Atlantic region on the same day in May.

On Monday, Basel and Samer Ramadan and each of the alleged co-conspirators are scheduled to appear in King’s County, N.Y. Supreme Court for a hearing characterized this week by the New York Attorney General’s Office as a “control date.” Essentially, the hearing is another step in the legal process when bond review appeals can be heard, pre-trial motions can be filed and other business of the court related to the prosecution can be handled.
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