4.5 Million in Chinese-Made Counterfeit Cigarettes Seized

Roughly 30,000 cartons of illegal cigarettes with an estimated street value of $4.5 million were seized from a warehouse in Borough Park last week, the Brooklyn DA's office announced Friday. The major bust was the fruit of a six month investigation, and netted one arrest: Yin Haun Zhao, who is accused of Trademark Counterfeiting in the Second Degree and Attempt to Evade or Defeat Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

According to Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes, the cigarettes included counterfeit versions of popular brands, such as Marlboro and Camel, as well as less well-known Chinese cigarettes. "As unhealthy as smoking is, smoking counterfeit and bootleg cigarettes is even worse, because there is no way of knowing what chemicals they contain,” Hynes said in a statement. “Selling this poison is also a drain on the state and city economy, because these cigarettes are entirely untaxed.” The taxes on that quantity of smokes, if sold legally, would have generated $1.8 million in revenue.

Michael Vecchione, Chief of the Brooklyn DA’s Racket Division, tells Brooklyn Paper that in China, where the cigarettes originated, unregulated tobacco "is sometimes dried by trucks rolling over the nicotine-filled leaves laid out on the ground, lacing it with leaded gas fumes in the process." It's laborious work, but how else are you going to get a pure taste of Diesel Flavor Country.

Source: http://gothamist.com/2013/01/28/45_million_in_counterfeit_cigarette.php