9 Muslim men arrested in New York for multi-million dollar cigarette bootlegging ring that sent money to the Middle East

BY ALFONSO A. CASTILLO
Newsday Staff Writer

Newsday: Smoking out suspects in cigarette tax scam

DA says cigarette bootlegging ring cost hundreds of millions in lost taxes; cash may have gone to Mideast

Despite the shock value of the dozens of plastic bags filled with cash spread in front of him, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said yesterday most of the money made by a group of cigarette bootleggers arrested earlier this week was "disturbingly absent" and may have been sent to the Middle East.

"The profits didn't stay in this country, as far as we know," Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said as he and Spota announced the details of the nine-month-long "Operation Smoke Out" at a Hauppauge news conference. Authorities made 171 arrests, including of some foreign-born defendants believed to have shipped much of their haul to Middle Eastern countries. The scam cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in lost taxes, Spota said.

"We can only surmise what they were using that money for," Dormer said.

Agents seized more than $1.2 million, but Spota said he believed that represented "very, very little" of the money made by the defendants, who he said generated $9 million in profits.

Spota said investigators have discovered "very sophisticated" overseas money orders and wire transfers, including to China and Middle Eastern countries. Other than China, authorities wouldn't identify where the money went, but some defendants came from Jordan and Afghanistan.

Authorities said the case was forwarded to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which did not return a call for comment.

Nine men pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of transporting more than 30,000 untaxed cigarettes -- a felony -- and various other charges.

They included Mohamad Koulibaly, 34, of the Bronx, who was held on $2 million cash bail or $4 million bond; Hakamali Alkayed, 31, of the Bronx, who was held without bail; Tamin Nagi, 22, of the Bronx, who was held on $2 million cash bail or $4 million bond; Mohamadou Konate, 32, of Manhattan, who was held on $3 million cash bail or $6 million bond; Mamadu Dajalo, 45, of the Bronx, who was held on $1 million cash bail or $2 million bond; and Modibo Camara, 22, of Harlem, for whom bail information was not available yesterday.

None of them had retained attorneys as of their arraignments. A woman who said she was Konate's fiancee called him a "decent guy" supporting his family. She said undercover agents pressured Konate to continue buying cheap cigarettes for resale.

Also arraigned were brothers Ihab Jaber, 36, Ashraf Liqania, 34, and Iyas Leqyanya, 32, who were charged with running a smuggling operation from their Staten Island home, where they would also print thousands of counterfeit state tax stamps and iron them onto cigarette packs. Their attorney, Norley Castaneda, of Rockville Centre, declined to comment...

Newsday: Smoking out suspects in cigarette tax scam