Three men from Prince George's and Howard counties & Baltimore City charged; Seized items represent nearly $300K tax loss
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (November 20, 2019) - Comptroller Peter Franchot today announced the largest tobacco bust in the agency’s history—nearly a half million dollars of untaxed tobacco products seized representing a tax loss to the state of more than $286,000.
During early-morning raids on November 5 at multiple locations in Prince George’s County and Baltimore City, agents from the Field Enforcement Division (FED) discovered a large-scale operation to import and distribute untaxed tobacco products and cigarettes in the state.
The year-long investigation, done in cooperation with federal, state and local law enforcement partners, involved numerous routine tobacco inspections and surveillance operations conducted by FED agents that yielded large quantities of untaxed cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (OTP).
“The work of the agency’s Field Enforcement Division is second to none, and this latest operation to bring down a criminal enterprise demonstrates solid police work and multi-jurisdictional coordination,” said Comptroller Franchot. “As a result, these lawbreakers will be held accountable and Marylanders will not see lost tax revenue going out the door.”
Agents seized thousands of cartons of untaxed tobacco products at a storage facility and at six retail locations. The combined retail sales value of the seized contraband tobacco products is $452,850.92 and represents a tax loss of $286,325.42 to the State of Maryland.
FED agents arrested Mehboob Chowdhury, 37, of Capitol Heights and Monzurul Islam, 29, of Columbia, and charged them with selling OTP purchased from other than a wholesaler. The two men are believed to be part of a larger tobacco smuggling syndicate operating in the state. Additional charges may follow.
FED agents believe Chowdhury and Islam smuggled untaxed tobacco into the state, stashed it in a large storage facility in Capitol Heights and then distributed those products to retail tobacco stores where the untaxed items were sold to the public.
During a related inspection at the Tobacco and Convenience Store in Northeast Baltimore, FED agents cited store clerk Abdul Karim Rubel, 18, of Baltimore. He faces misdemeanor charges of selling OTP purchased from other than a wholesaler, possession of untaxed OTP and possession and sale of untaxed cigarettes.
Search warrants were served at:
- Extra Space Storage, 6300 Walker Mill Road, Capitol Heights
- Tobacco Heaven, 4831 Silver Hill Road, Suitland
- 24 Hour Best Tobacco Beer and Wine, 5400 Marlboro Pike, District Heights
- 24 Hour Discount Mart Convenience and Tobacco Store, 5003 A Marlboro Pike, Capitol Heights
- Residence of Mehboob Chowdhury of Capitol Heights and 2019 Toyota Highlander belonging to him
Inspections were conducted at:
- Tobacco and Convenience Store, 5300 Frankford Ave., Baltimore
- Tobacco and Wireless, 13312 Laurel-Bowie Road, Laurel
- 24 Hour One Stop Convenience, 6106 Old Silver Hill Road, District Heights
The total quantity of contraband tobacco products discovered and seized at the various locations is as follows:
- 341,504 sticks of non-premium untaxed tobacco products
- 521 packs of untaxed cigarettes
- 7,866 packages of untaxed loose and Hookah tobacco products
- 1,246 untaxed premium cigars
The largest portion of the contraband products seized by agents occurred at the Extra Space Storage in Capitol Heights. The number of items and dollar amounts are as follows:
- 237,787 sticks of untaxed non-premium OTP with a retail value of $237,787 representing a tax loss of $166,450.90; and
- 2,953 packages of untaxed loose and Hookah tobacco with a retail value of $48,757 representing a tax loss of $14,627.10.
“This investigation and bust was the result of a year-long probe involving numerous law enforcement partners to dismantle significant criminal activity in Maryland,” said Jeff Kelly, FED director. “I couldn’t be prouder of the work of our dedicated, effective and professional staff for upholding the law and looking out for taxpayers’ interests.”
FED agents were assisted by Prince George’s County Police, Baltimore City Police and Maryland State Police. The Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office is also working with the agency.
“Tobacco smuggling is big business and the perpetrators are more brazen than ever before,” said Franchot. “We will continue to use every resource at our disposal to fight this lucrative form of organized crime.”
22 comments:
Golf Clap Peter, golf clap.
2 days until TGIF, can't come fast enough!
Yawn
Always foreigners of the middle eastern variety
Look out, I see a Franchot visit to Salisbury on the horizon to boast about this one. Seems as the only place he gets recognition or acknowledgement is doing interviews with Mike Dunn
Plenty of these guys operating in ocean City.
This is totally BS. Maryland spends its taxpayer dollars to stop smugglers avoiding out of state taxes. Why? Is NY paying us to stop the smugglers? No. Maybe animal control can use Franchot's talent but the taxpayers get nothing.
I wonder where they were sending all their illicit gains?...
Is it strange that a group of people of a religion that expressly forbids tobacco use is trafficking that very substance? Of course, the intended end buyers are infidels, which might also make these a string of hate crimes.
Anonymous said...
Look out, I see a Franchot visit to Salisbury on the horizon to boast about this one. Seems as the only place he gets recognition or acknowledgement is doing interviews with Mike Dunn
November 20, 2019 at 5:58 PM
And Jake Day!
Anonymous said...
Look out, I see a Franchot visit to Salisbury on the horizon to boast about this one. Seems as the only place he gets recognition or acknowledgement is doing interviews with Mike Dunn
November 20, 2019 at 5:58 PM
Where is Len Foxwell's statement on this? He must be writing another Nastygram about Bob Culver.
Mehboob Chowdhury
Monzurul Islam
Abdul Karim Rubel
Does anyone notice anything ironic about those names?
JW
Goes to NYC and NJ. The mostly Pakistani c store cartel is usually responsible. They also get most of their OTP products from PA . PA has very low or no taxes on OTP products and one of the wholesale companies is owned by a foreigner.
I'm still trying to figure out why people cheer for this sort of thing and also why is the tax so high?
The combined retail sales value of the seized contraband tobacco products is $452,850.92 and represents a tax loss of $286,325.42 to the State of Maryland
Thats over 60 percent. No wonder people smuggle smokes the state makes more than anyone else. Keep cheering.
Smugglers are fair game in every state they pass through or do business.
Democrat officials and the deep state are well aware of these Muslim cartels stealing from taxpayers to fund terrorist operations back in the middle east. Surprising they are publicizing this when the usual sentence is minuscule. Why does the deep state allow this smuggling to persist with only a mere occasion bust like this one.
So... Let me get this straight:
People buy smokes in another State because they are much cheaper there due to not paying a hefty State Cigarette Tax.
BUT.... A rich man can (and does!) purchase his six-figure yacht in Delaware due to not having to pay a hefty State Sales Tax.
One guy goes to jail.
The rich man goes fishing.
Somebody really needs to 'splain that to me.
For a state that persecutes smokers they sure do seem to care about those cigarette taxes.
This is why I switched to vaping, and the great thing about it is that I'll never pay more than sales tax on the juice. Everything can be manufactured in my own house if need be and all of it's components are legal. Not only legal, but used in many different things and are impossible to ban in a practical sense.
Petey and Lennie trying to justify these positions before they lose them in January.
Excessive taxation always creates the black market for items. No surprise there. As long as states try to tax cigarettes out of business, there will be entrepreneurs that will make money (big money) off of it. The market for low tax cigarettes is huge, and these busts will not put a dent in it. Excessively high taxes cause the problem. States like MD, NY, PA & NJ cause this very thing to happen.
About 20 years ago I worked on a chemical tanker ship and we were buying cigarettes for about 17 or 18 cents a pack.They were purchased from a ships agent and had to stay locked in the captains quarters until we were back in international waters. There was no tax stamp of any kind on the packs. That just goes to show how much taxes the government raises on tobacco products.
November 21, 2019 at 11:39 AM:
My untaxed cigarrettes that I bought at the PX in Germany only cost $1.25 PER CARTON. Twelve and 1/2 cents per pack for cigarettes. I didn't even smoke, but my German friends did, and they loved American smokes. When you can buy tax free offshore, or anywhere else, you see what states are doing to their citizens with their outrageous "sin taxes." NY is the worst. They take a $2.00 product and put a $10.00 tax on it. But then again, New Yorkers deserve it.
Greedy Md does not need any of these taxes. If they stop paying for illegals getting free babies education medical housibg and benefits
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