WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- U.S. federal officials say terror groups are increasingly turning to interstate cigarette smuggling to generate millions of dollars, the Washington Post said.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has more than 300 open cases of illicit cigarette trafficking, up from only a handful five years ago, ATF sources said.
Several of the cases have active links to such groups as al-Qaida and Hezbollah, federal law enforcement officials said.
The traffickers buy a large volume of cigarettes in states where the tax is low, such as Virginia and North Carolina, transport them up Interstate 95 to states such as Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and then sell them at a discount without paying the higher cigarette taxes in those states.
A smuggler can make about $2 million on a single truckload of cigarettes, which contains 800 cases, or 48,000 cartons.
Smuggling cigarettes becomes a federal crime only when more than 60,000 cigarettes, or 300 cartons, can be proved to have been purchased to avoid payment of state tax.
