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NY busts multi-million dollar 'cigarette smuggling ring' (3 of 16 Palestinians have terrorist links)
BBC News ^ | 5/16/13 | BBC

Posted on 05/16/2013 8:17:45 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

New York officials say they have busted a multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling ring.

Officials allege that three of the 16 Palestinian immigrants charged had links to known terrorists.

The state's attorney general said investigators had recovered only "a fraction" of the proceeds from sales of more than a million untaxed cartons.

The amount of money involved remains unclear, but records show the suspects deposited at least $55m (£36m).

The scheme cost the state an estimated $80m in tax revenue, said officials in a press conference on Thursday.

The alleged ringleaders, brothers Basel and Samir Ramadan, were arrested on Wednesday in Maryland.

Investigators said they had found $1.5m in cash - some stashed in black plastic bin bags - in the home and car of Basel Ramadan.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; US: New York; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: baselramadan; busts; cigarette; newyorkcity; palestinians; samirramadan; smugglingring

1 posted on 05/16/2013 8:17:45 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

Only three? Must be those moderate Muslims we’re always hearing about...


2 posted on 05/16/2013 8:20:39 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I'll raise $2million for Sarah Palin's next run. What'll you do?)
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To: NormsRevenge

If N.Y. didn’t have hideous taxes on tobacco, there wouldn’t be a black market for cigarettes.


3 posted on 05/16/2013 8:22:12 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (_.. ._. .. _. _._ __ ___ ._. . ___ ..._ ._ ._.. _ .. _. .)
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To: NormsRevenge

Hey, at least it’s just a cigarette smuggling ring. In Britain the Muhammedmen have rings dedicated to raping white girls.


4 posted on 05/16/2013 8:22:19 PM PDT by NotYourAverageDhimmi
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To: NormsRevenge

I’m sorry, but could someone point to the place on the map from 1940 where this ‘Palestine’ place was?

Or perhaps the same question on a map from before the 1967 war?

So, really, what we’re talking about is a made up place. Which is appropriate, because apparently 13 of the 16 people pretended they didn’t have any ties to a known terrorist.


5 posted on 05/16/2013 8:24:19 PM PDT by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
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NY Busts

That’d make for a heckuva Reality TV show.


6 posted on 05/16/2013 8:25:36 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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Yeah, No problem, grab a few off da end there..

About 20,000 cartons were brought to New York per week by distributors

7 posted on 05/16/2013 8:27:29 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: kingu

It’s East of Pakistan which never used to be and smack dab next to Syria which was and then wasn’t and is again.. for now. alas terrorism knows no borders or a true homeland.. nor do NoSmoking PSAs and smugglers..


8 posted on 05/16/2013 8:30:50 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: kingu
Which is appropriate, because apparently 13 of the 16 people pretended they didn’t have any ties to a known terrorist.

That's 3 terrorists and 13 "freedom" fighters...

9 posted on 05/16/2013 8:31:32 PM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of opression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
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To: NormsRevenge

tobacco- the new narcotic


10 posted on 05/16/2013 8:31:39 PM PDT by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
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To: NormsRevenge

While officials were distraught at the missing tax income, it did not compare to the outrage they expressed at the lack of RFID chips in the packs of smokes. ‘Someone could have opened one of those packs of cigarettes and SMOKED it without us knowing where they were. How are we going to arrest people for smoking in public or private without these devices!’


11 posted on 05/16/2013 8:36:27 PM PDT by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Smuggling is an honorable profession in Mideast countries.


12 posted on 05/16/2013 9:13:25 PM PDT by allendale
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Officials allege that three of the 16 Palestinian immigrants charged had links to known terrorists.”

The remaining 13 had links to unknown terrorists....


13 posted on 05/16/2013 9:20:54 PM PDT by G Larry (Darkness Hates the Light)
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To: NormsRevenge

This has been an ongoing racket since before the 1993 WTC bombings.

After 9/11 the FBI, BATFE, NYPD, MTA Police, NJ State Troopers, NY county Sheriff’s Depts, NYJ State Police, NJ county Sheriff’s Dept’s rounded up several hundred known racketeers with connections tobacco smuggling used to fund Pali or Lebanese terror groups and deported most of them.

The rackets were back in action within months with a new crop of young men from the Middle East.

Hezbollah has been at it for several decades, and nothing has ever been done to stop it, in fact, the Fed Gov has gone out of their way to endorse this racketeering through the immigration policies and social safety net policies in place.

Today we’re looking at a situation where almost every one of these racketeers will be eligible for blanket amnesty and US citizenship for themselves and their entire extended family of current and future terrorists.

Welcome to the United States postbellum.


14 posted on 05/16/2013 9:45:20 PM PDT by JerseyHighlander
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To: Graybeard58
I mean everyone knows that smokers are worse than terrorists anymore...
15 posted on 05/17/2013 12:41:14 AM PDT by Rodamala
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To: NormsRevenge
Some of those arrested in the federal bust have links to **Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind sheik, and Rashid Baz, who opened fire on a van of Yeshiva students on the Brooklyn Bridge, killing Ari Halberstam. ‘We're concerned because similar schemes have been used in the past to help fund terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah,’ says Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.**

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/terrorists-money-regional-cigarette-smugglers-ray-kelly-article-1.1346120#ixzz2TXKrlKxW


16 posted on 05/17/2013 1:29:29 AM PDT by Daffynition (Stand Your Ground)
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To: JerseyHighlander

In total 16 people, all Palestinian nationals, were charged in the operation.

Racial profiling....PFFFT!

17 posted on 05/17/2013 1:31:17 AM PDT by Daffynition (Stand Your Ground)
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To: NormsRevenge

More candidates for Rubio-Obama Amnesty....


18 posted on 05/17/2013 4:32:30 AM PDT by SeminoleCounty (GOP - Greenlighting Obama's Programs)
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To: NormsRevenge

Wouldn’t being in an illegal muslim smuggling gang lead by terrorists qualify all these beady eyed Mohammed murder cult folks as terrorists by default?


19 posted on 05/17/2013 4:40:01 AM PDT by NowApproachingMidnight (Civilizations die from suicide, not murder.)
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To: NormsRevenge
The only reason there is such a thing as 'cigarette smuggling' is because of the insane taxation levels on the things.
20 posted on 05/17/2013 5:24:09 AM PDT by zeugma (Those of us who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.)
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