Abdullah Alnahas, Cigarette Trafficking, Rhode Island 2024

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A local businessman has pleaded guilty to trafficking contraband cigarettes, bringing in over six million cigarettes valued at $1.2 million from Virginia.

Abdullah Alnahas, 36, of Cranston, owner and operator of a Cranston convenience store and a Providence laundromat, faces up to 10 years in federal prison for his role in the contraband cigarette conspiracy.

Alnahas pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to engage in contraband cigarette trafficking and contraband cigarette trafficking before U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith on Thursday.

The indictment alleges that Alnahas and his co-conspirators created ‘shell’ corporations in Virginia to purchase and resell cigarettes in the state, paying only the Virginia tax of 35 cents per package.

However, it is alleged that over 30,000 cartons (6 million) of cigarettes valued at over $1.2 million were shipped to Rhode Island for resale, evading over $500,000 in tax stamp payments.

Alnahas is scheduled to be sentenced by Chief Judge William E. Smith on May 9, 2014. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Ferland.

Alnahas is one of eight defendants named in federal grand jury indictments returned in May and September 2013, which allege that the defendants participated in a scheme to traffic contraband cigarettes into Rhode Island beginning in July 2011.

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