Tobacco.org

Cigarette smuggler guilty of trying to hire hitman 

A Fairfax man at the center of a massive cigarette-smuggling ring pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to hire a hitman to murder someone he thought had stolen from him.

The plea in U.S. District Court from Xing Xiao, 32, is the 14th conviction obtained by federal and local authorities in breaking up a Stafford County smuggling ring. The group bought 77 million cigarettes from undercover agents in Virginia and took them to New York, where they fetch a better price.

In the last few years, federal agents in Virginia have sold more than 250 million cigarettes in sting operations designed to combat increased smuggling.

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