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Customs agents U.S. Customs officials seized 202 cartons of untaxed cigarettes at the Honolulu Airport from an Ewa couple returning from the Philippines last weekend.
seize 202 cartons
of cigarettes
The packages lacked a tax stamp
and the required health caveatBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com"This is the largest seizure of illegal cigarettes we've had at the airport in a long time," Michael Cox, U.S. Customs Service senior special agent, said earlier this week.
The cigarettes were manufactured in the Philippines for overseas markets. They can be bought in the Philippines for $5 to $10 a carton and resold here for $25 to $30, Cox said. Cartons of taxed cigarettes sell for more than $30 wholesale and more than $40 retail in Hawaii.
The 51-year-old man and his 45-year-old wife were each arrested for possessing and transporting more than 3,000 untaxed cigarettes, a Class C felony under state law, and for importing cigarettes not intended for sale in the United States, a misdemeanor. They were later released pending further investigation. Cox said the couple is not facing federal prosecution.
Customs agents searched the couple's belongings after they had a problem at the U.S. Immigrations and Naturalization Service checkpoint, Cox said. The cartons of cigarettes were found in six boxes.
Three brands of cigarettes were seized: Champion, Hope and Marlboro.
None of the cigarette packs had a State of Hawaii Cigarette Tax Stamp at the bottom of each pack as required by law. Another feature that distinguishes the overseas cigarettes is that the health warning on the side of each pack is not one of the four surgeon general warnings required for cigarettes sold in the United States.
"We have recently become more aware of these Philippine-manufactured cigarettes without the surgeon general warning," said Earl Hoke, state Attorney General's Office Tobacco Enforcement Unit.
When investigators began going out to retail establishments last year to monitor compliance with the law, they were looking primarily for the tax stamps, Hoke said. But investigators began noticing brands not normally sold here like Hope and Champion.
"It's clear that these Philippine-manufactured cigarettes that we are seizing at retail stores are not coming from regular wholesalers because they don't have stamps. How they are coming in, we don't know if it's by courier or being muled in. But they are apparently coming in sufficient volumes that they are being offered for sale in stores," Hoke said.
In two separate cases last August, 30 cartons of cigarettes manufactured in Australia and 30 cartons of cigarettes manufactured in Vietnam were seized at Honolulu Airport, Hoke said. Those cases are still pending.