St. Louis, MO – In a brazen move to line their pockets at the expense of state tax revenue, ten Chicago area men have been charged with conspiracy to traffic in contraband cigarettes in St. Louis, MO.
According to the indictment, between October 2012 and April 2015, the defendants purchased large amounts of State of Missouri tax stamped cigarettes in the St. Louis area, from either a confidential informant or retail business, which they then transported to the Chicago area for resale.
The indictment alleges that they then sold the contraband cigarettes themselves or to local distributors, raking in millions of dollars in profits while leaving behind a trail of lost tax revenue for the State of Illinois.
The defendants, who were indicted by a federal grand jury on April 8th, face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000 if convicted.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with Assistant United States Attorney John Ware handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The indictment was suppressed until the arrest of some of the defendants on Tuesday, and they are expected to appear in court on Monday, April 20, 2015.
As is always the case, charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The ten individuals indicted include:
- Mohamad Awadallah
- Khalid Alazzah
- Ibrahim Moghli
- Baraa Awwad
- Wisam Zeidan
- Ahmad Zayed
- Raad Hamdeh
- Suhaib Awwad
- Muath Salah
- Yazan Alsala Ymeh
Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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