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U.S. Sen. Kohl: Sponsors bill to prevent black market cigarette smuggling  

U.S. Senator Herb Kohl today reintroduced the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act of 2009 to provide law enforcement with the tools they need to crack down on black market tobacco selling. Cigarette trafficking has developed into a popular, and highly profitable, means of generating revenue for criminal and terrorist organizations. Hezbollah, al Qaeda and Hamas have all generated significant revenue from the sale of counterfeit cigarettes. That money is often raised in the United States, and it is then funneled back to these international terrorist groups. Cigarette smuggling is a multibillion dollar a year phenomenon and it is getting worse. In 1998, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) had six active tobacco smuggling investigations. In 2005, that number swelled to 452. Today there are more than 400 open cases. Cigarette trafficking, including the illegal sale of tobacco products over the internet, costs states billions of dollars in lost tax revenue each year. It is estimated that states lose $5 billion in revenues due to illegal tobacco sales.

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• House votes to crack down on tobacco black market 

The House on Thursday approved tougher enforcement measures against contraband cigarette sales that make money for criminals, but cost federal, state and local governments billions of dollars.

The bill, which passed 397-11, is especially aimed at Internet sales. Sellers on the Internet and others shipping to remote locations would have to verify the purchaser's age and identity through accessible databases.

Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products could no longer be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service except in limited cases. Private delivery companies already have agreed not to ship tobacco products while the Postal Service continues to deliver products purchased over the Internet.

Misdemeanors under current law would be made felonies, and it would be a federal offense for any seller failing to pay state tax laws. . . .

Weiner cited a Government Accountability Office report that organizations including Hezbollah made money through the tobacco black market.

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The Swift Rise and Fall of Iraqi Cleric Nadhim Khalil  

But the voice of the mastermind lingered with Hammoud, and his recollection led Iraqi and U.S. soldiers this month to arrest Nadhim Khalil, a former insurgent leader known to his followers as Mullah Nadhim, who had become an American ally here.

Khalil's rivals have hailed his detention. His colleagues call it caprice. Either way, it underlines the free-for-all of elusive loyalties, stinging betrayals and unrequited vengeance as the U.S. military withdraws, its erstwhile allies splinter, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki remains tentative and everyone vies for power ahead of national elections.

In short, no one is in charge in Thuluyah. Khalil was -- until his arrest. . . .

After Hussein's fall, powerful tribes with the names of Jabbouri, Khazraji, Ubaidi and Bufarraj filled the void. But Khalil soon played his own role. The Americans persuaded tribal elders to make him a member of the city council, as a representative of the town's clergy. The honeymoon was brief, and by year's end, Khalil's zeal against the occupation, what he called a cancer in his sermons at the Caliphs Mosque, brought him into the insurgents' ranks. By August 2006, he had joined al-Qaeda in Iraq, a homegrown Sunni movement that U.S. officials say is led by foreigners and that soon seized control of Thuluyah, imposing a vision of Islamic law that banned smoking in the street.

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Activation of the Cholinergic Antiinflammatory Pathway Reduces Ricin-Induced Mortality and Organ Failure in Mice 

Our results have demonstrated that nicotine reduces organ failure and improves mouse survival following ricin exposure. The protective effect of nicotine appears to be associated with its antiinflammatory effect, suggesting a possible therapeutic strategy of activating the cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway following ricin exposure to protect against multiple organ failure. Nicotine treatment reduced levels of the inflammatory cytokine TNF-•and improved both liver and kidney function while reducing the oxidative stress observed in these organs following ricin exposure. The overall effect of nicotine on maintaining liver and kidney function while reducing systemic inflammation may account for the reduced mortality observed with ricin exposure.

Ricin has been shown to induce a severe inflammatory response that has been linked to development of acute renal failure (5,6). Ricin exposure also . . .

The protection against ricin-mediated inflammation and systemic organ failure by nicotine is likely due to the antiinflammatory effect of nicotine-blocking NF-•B activation and inflammatory gene expression. . . .

Currently there is no antidote to ricin, and the treatment options following exposure consist of providing supportive measures to maintain organ function and removing the toxin from the body. Therefore, the development of new therapies that maintain organ function and delay mortality following ricin poisoning would be invaluable both for accidental and deliberate exposure of the human population. The data presented here suggest activation of the cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway may prove to be an effective therapeutic strategy to improve survival following ricin exposure. This effect may be induced centrally, by stimulating the vagus nerve or inhibiting cholinesterases, or peripherally, using nicotine or a specific alpha7nAChreceptor agonist.

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Activation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway reduces ricin-induced mortality and organ failure in mice. 

Both the kidney and liver had markedly increased cellular oxidative stress following ricin exposure, an effect attenuated by nicotine administration. In conclusion, these data demonstrate that activation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway may prove beneficial in cases of ricin poisoning reducing organ damage and delaying mortality allowing for a greater chance of survival.

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• Nicotine may prevent bioterrorism damage  

British scientists say they've determined nicotine can delay the effects of ricin used during a bioterrorism attack.

Jon Mabley and his colleagues at the University of Brighton found nicotine works to block the tissue-destroying effects of ricin -- a highly toxic compound derived from castor beans. The study was conducted in laboratory models, but the scientists said nicotine agonists could potentially be used in patients exposed to ricin as a stopgap measure before other treatments take effect.

The British investigators studied the effect of nicotine on animals exposed to ricin and found it reduced death and organ failure.

"The protective effect of nicotine appears to be associated with its anti-inflammatory effect . . .

The study appears in the journal Molecular Medicine.

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• Bedouin Smugglers Armed Hamas 

A Bedouin man who works with his family as a cigarette smuggler has been charged with helping Hamas bring weapons to Gaza. Hassan Ali Suarcha was charged on Monday in the Be'er Sheva District Court with weapons smuggling and providing material aide to a terrorist organization.

Police say the Suarcha family, a Bedouin clan based primarily in the Sinai Peninsula, is involved in smuggling cigarettes and tobacco from Egypt to Israel. Cigarette smuggling is a lucrative trade – smugglers can earn twice the average monthly salary in just one day, and the trade as a whole brings in tens of millions of shekels each year.

Hassan Suarcha was one of several smugglers who began using his route to bring dozens of Kalashnikov rifles to Hamas, police say. The rifles were hidden in sacks of tobacco.

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Congress Is Again Weighing Aid for Ground Zero Rescuers 

Testifying before a House Judiciary subcommittee in Washington, Ms. Burnette said her lungs were damaged by inflammation and scarring as a result of weeks she spent in rescue and recovery efforts in the dust at ground zero in 2001. But because her illness did not manifest itself immediately, she said in testimony carried on the Internet, she missed the Dec. 22, 2003, deadline for applying for compensation from the Victim Compensation Fund that Congress established after the attack.

The committee is considering a bill introduced in February by Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, a New York City Democrat, that would reopen the fund to new claimants. A similar effort died in Congress last year. . . .

Dr. James Melius, administrator of the New York State Laborers' Health and Safety Trust Fund, a labor-management fund for construction workers, said "there should not be a great deal of difficulty" identifying people whose problems related to work at ground zero, "as opposed to cigarette smoking."

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• U.S. businessman 'funded Real IRA soldier killers by smuggling cigarettes into Ireland' 

An American businessman has been accused of funding the Real IRA by masterminding a cigarette smuggling ring that has netted them hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The case highlights the criminal activities which underpin the funding of terrorism in Northern Ireland.

Roman Vidal, 57, arranged for shipments of millions of cigarettes from Panama to Dublin where they were collected by contacts linked to the terror group.

The Real IRA has claimed responsibility for the murder of two British soldiers in Antrim on Saturday. . . .

Vidal is accused of sending two massive shipments of cigarettes to Ireland which were sold on the 'black market' at a fraction of the cost of other cigarettes.

U.S. customs agents told a Miami court they were able to trace the shipments, hidden under wood flooring and insulation material, to gangs linked to the Real IRA.

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LaFaive, Nesbit: Cigarette tax hikes will bring smuggling, other crimes  

The state of Florida is considering a cigarette tax hike of $1 per pack, a 295 percent increase. The Orlando Sentinel has opined in favor of such an increase without accounting for the smuggling it could encourage. Readers should be aware that increased cigarette taxes would likely produce a laundry list of such unintended consequences, including violence against people and property.

Last year, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy published a 90-page study titled "Cigarette Taxes and Smuggling." In the study, a statistical model was constructed to gauge the degree to which tax-induced cigarette smuggling occurred in the continental United States from 1990 to 2006. This model pegged Florida's total smuggling rate at a modest 5.8 percent of all cigarettes (legal and illegal) consumed in 2006. . . .

Florida's proposed cigarette excise tax would dramatically increase its tax differential with nearby tobacco states. It does not strain credulity to suggest that commercial smuggling from states such as South Carolina, which taxes cigarettes at 7 cents per pack and no longer mandates tax stamps, will increase dramatically. . . .

We have long argued against higher taxes and recommend cuts in states with cigarette excise taxes that are already high. Moreover, cigarette taxes are regressive, and cigarette tax revenues are frequently spent on items that have little to do with smoking cessation or other tobacco-related costs.

--Michael D. LaFaive is director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute in Midland, Mich. Todd Nesbit is a Penn State Erie economist and an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center.

The study also distinguished between casual and commercial smuggling.

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• Huge haul of lethal cigarettes impounded  

CUSTOMS officers seized almost 60 million "counterfeit" cigarettes smuggled into the country by major criminal gangs, the biggest being the former south Armagh IRA brigade, it has emerged.

Tests on the counterfeit cigarettes, including fake packets of the popular John Player Blue, have shown that they can contain dangerously high levels of poisons including arsenic. The cigarettes are manufactured in clandestine factories in China and north Africa and have been found to contain floor sweepings, sawdust and toxic chemicals.

Senior gardai have told the Sunday Independent that former IRA members from south Armagh are responsible for smuggling cigarettes worth millions of euro over the past few years.

Cigarette smuggling is one of the fastest growing and most lucrative forms of crime in the State.

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Employees cease work at Janakpur Cigarette Factory over murder, picket DAO 

Employees of Janakpur Cigarette Factory ceased work on Tuesday to protest the murder of one of their supervisors Narendra Khati.

They are picketing the District Administration Office (DAO) displaying the corpse of Khati. They are demanding that Khati be declared a martyr, his family be provided compensation and employment, and security of all employees be guaranteed.

Meanwhile, police also arrested five persons from Janakpur late Monday in connection with the murder.

Khati, 45, was shot dead allegedly by cadres of Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha - Jwala Singh in Janakpur on Monday evening. Surya Dev Singh, district commander of JTMM (Jwala) owned up the murder of Khati within 10 minutes of Khati being shot. The armed outfit accused the supervisor of spying against the group.

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Lung Problems Persist for 9/11 Responders  

Almost a quarter of a sample of people exposed to toxic dust after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack in New York City still suffer from diminished lung capacity, a new study finds.

The rate of problems is much higher than normal, about 2.5 times more than would be expected in people who smoke, said study co-author Dr. Jacqueline Moline, director of the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program Clinical Center. . .

About a quarter of those tested still have limited lung capacity and lung function, Moline said. "The most common finding we see is that people aren't able to take in as deep of a breath as you'd expect, and some can't push it out as much."

The normal rate of lung capacity problems for a similar group of people would be five percent for non-smokers and 10 percent for smokers, she noted.

"These are problems we're seeing five or six or seven years after the towers fell," Moline said. "Many of these folks are going to have long-term problems, and their lung function won't return to normal."

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LaFAIVE: Cigarette smuggling rampant  

On Nov. 13, 2008, more than 150 law enforcement officers were involved in a major bust of 18 people involved in trafficking contraband cigarettes in the Detroit area. According to the Detroit Free Press, the smuggling ring involved "104,300 cartons of illegal cigarettes worth more than $2 million in unpaid Michigan taxes."

A new study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "Cigarette Taxes and Smuggling," shows that this single bust - despite its considerable size - represents only a small portion of illegally trafficked cigarettes in the Great Lakes State. . . .

But cigarette smuggling is not the only issue that must be considered when studying tobacco tax hikes. There are a host of unintended consequences involved for states choosing to dramatically hike excise taxes. For example:

? Financing of a terrorist organization. . . .

? Violence against property. The same wholesaler mentioned above has had the cement wall of their building busted through by thieves with sledgehammers looking to steal tobacco products.

Michigan should consider cutting its excise tax to reduce the frequency of all these crimes, or at the very least, raise excise taxes no further.

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• Scam, Like A Nesting Doll, Hid Even More 

The small white bungalow on Backlick Road, near a major Fairfax County intersection, seemed like an unlikely spot for a sweatshop. But when police and federal agents burst in, they found several women hunched over industrial sewing machines, cranking out counterfeit designer clothing, working off the debt they owed for passage to America.

The astonishing discovery came during a two-year investigation into a Korean organized crime ring based in Annandale that trafficked in untaxed cigarettes. Undercover officers and agents started off making $5 million in sales of contraband cigarettes. That led to the crime ring's money laundering and numerous financial schemes. There was even a murder-for-hire plot.

A tip from an informant helped break open a criminal enterprise that stretched from Northern Virginia to New York City, according to court records in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. Seventeen people have been sent to federal prison.

Although their focus was untaxed cigarettes, police also uncovered the sweatshop, rampant identity theft and mortgage fraud. Concerned that the same tools could be used by terrorists, federal authorities are now looking for ways to plug those potential security gaps. . . .

The operation was broken up in a series of raids in July, including one on Shin's home at 5020 Backlick Rd. Investigators were stunned to discover "a mini-factory," as Benedict called it. They found shelves full of counterfeit sports clothes and crack pipes that police think were used to keep workers addicted and subservient.

All those arrested in the ring pleaded guilty to fraud counts. Cho was sentenced to 42 months, with the provision that he would be deported at the end of his prison term.

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