Offshore Web Sites Market Illegal Cuban Cigars to U.S. Smokers
Jump to full article: ABC News, 2001-08-15
Author: Jack Karp
Intro: an increasing number of cigar aficionados in the United States are finding it easier than ever to smuggle the illicit cigars into this country. And they're not using hollowed-out books or cigarette boats or hidden airstrips. They're using the Internet.
"Buying Cuban cigars over the Internet is extremely easy," one anonymous Cuban cigar smoker told CyberCrime. "It's as easy as buying books on Amazon.com." . .
Stephen Mawdsley operates one of these foreign cigar retailers, and he claims that approximately 90 percent of the customers who shop at his Casa de Malahato in Victoria, British Columbia, are from the United States. He also estimates that he does most of his business online. . .
U.S. law enforcement agents can do nothing to stop these Web sites, since they operate in countries where U.S. laws do not apply. . .
But that doesn't make it legal in this country, Freatis points out. The penalties for smuggling Cuban cigars into the United States include, in addition to confiscation of the cigars, civil fines of up to $55,000 per violation and, in certain cases, criminal prosecution that could lead to higher fines or imprisonment.
Freatis and Customs officials at the U.S. Customs mail inspection facility in Oakland, Calif., and at eight other inspection facilities around the country, inspect packages arriving in the United States for contraband goods, including Cuban cigars.
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