A member of a ring that allegedly traded millions of dollars in cash, cocaine, heroin, automobiles and other goods for untaxed cigarettes pleaded guilty in federal court in Richmond on Wednesday.
Court documents allege that operation made at least $8.2 million from 2009 until last October. Many of the activities and some of the arrests took place in the Richmond area and elsewhere in Virginia.
In addition to cash, the participants allegedly used prescription erectile dysfunction pills, thousands of grams of crack cocaine, heroin, gold jewelry and BMW and Lexus SUVs to buy more than 100,000 cartons of cigarettes that were sent to New York for resale.
Salah Morshed, a U.S. citizen born in Yemen and arrested in New York, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to traffic in contraband cigarettes and to one count of conspiracy to launder money.
He will face up to 25 years in prison when sentenced on May 11 by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, though federal sentencing guidelines will likely call for a lesser term of imprisonment.
He is the first of six people charged in a 15-count indictment in November alleging conspiracy to distribute drugs, distribution and possession with intent to distribute drugs, conspiracy to traffic in contraband cigarettes, trafficking in contraband cigarettes and money-laundering conspiracy.
Wearing an orange jail jump suit and ankle chains, Morshed, who was not charged with any drug offenses, quietly answered questions asked by Hudson through an interpreter.
Morshed admitted, among other things, transporting from New York to Virginia counterfeit cigarette tax stamps and vehicles to pay for the contraband cigarettes and then taking the contraband cigarettes from Virginia to New York.
Both Virginia and New York impose a cigarette tax — $4.35 a pack in New York and 30 cents a pack in Virginia — and require tax stamps on individual packs to show the tax has been paid.
Documents show the investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
During the investigation, an undercover BATF agent posed as a supplier of untaxed, contraband cigarettes.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement