A simple traffic stop in Brooklyn led to a major recovery for police early Friday - 117 boxes of untaxed cigarettes. The haul - a total of 58,500 packs - is the latest case involving contraband cigarettes, authorities say, with more and more entrepreneurs transporting cigarettes to New York from states where they sell for far less money. "It's an ongoing problem as the price of cigarettes go up,'' Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. "Obviously, it increases the motivation to go to other states to buy them and bring them back here. We enforce the law in that regard." Last month, 21 convenience store owners on Long Island were arrested and accused of buying and selling untaxed Marlboro and Marlboro Lights cigarettes, netting more than $2 million in illegal profits, authorities say.
In Friday morning's case, the NYPD's auto larceny squad pulled over a U-Haul truck at 12:30 a.m. in East Flatbush because its license plate was covered by a bag, police say.
The driver, Marvin Whatley, 30, was driving with a suspended license, so he was arrested, allowing police to search the truck, authorities say. Inside, were various cigarettes, all untaxed, police say.
Whatley and his passenger, his brother Marlon, 32, were charged with possession of untaxed cigarettes.
Police also found in the truck a set of burglar's tools, but they are still trying to determine whether the cigarettes were bought at an Indian reservation in New York or if the suspects got them out of state.
They are also investigating if the siblings were working alone or if they are part of a larger ring, authorities say.
Cigarettes go for about $10 a pack - and about $95 a carton - and police sources say more and more New Yorkers are looking for other ways to get their nicotine fix.
Some get them from bootleggers referred to as the "$5 man," often someone selling by a subway entrance or out of the back of a car trunk. Others, sources say, stock up on cigarettes if they are traveling out of state.
On Friday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) seized 1.75 million contraband cigarettes near the Manitoba - Ontario border and in a separate case the New York City Police Department (NYPD) also had a major recovery of 1.17 million cigarettes.
Cigarettes 

Canadian officers seized 150 cases of illegal, unmarked cigarettes, as well as 25 cases of "discount" brand cigarettes during a traffic safety check conducted during National Road Safety Week on the Trans Canada Highway.  

The NYPD pulled over a U-Haul truck for a traffic violation, a covered license plate and recovered 58,500 packs of untaxed contraband cigarettes.

"It's an ongoing problem as the price of cigarettes go up. Obviously, it increases the motivation to go to other states to buy them and bring them back here. We enforce the law in that regard," said a NYPD Police Commissioner.

"Discount brands of cigarettes ... come from countries such as, not only the United States, but India, Native American tribes, the Philippines, Colombia, Mexico and other countries around the globe," said a representative from the American State Auditor’s Office.

Bootleggers, nicknamed the $5 man, are the new entrepreneurs when taxed cigarettes sell for over US$10 a pack and nearly $100 a carton in some places in the U.S.

Customers satisfying a nicotine addiction provide a hefty income for illegal tobacco traders. The illicit smuggling of tobacco results in thousands of dollars in lost tax revenue to governments. In Manitoba's bust, it's estimated that nearly CA$325,000 (US$275,000)are lost in tax revenue from illegal cigarette sales.

On Wednesday, 90,000 contraband cigarettes were seized from Lithuanian travellers at the Dublin Ireland airport. On Monday, in a separate case, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) seized unmarked cigarettes from a Manitoba man for the second time. This time police recovered 160,000 cigarettes. One week ago smugglers hid 3,000 cases of illegal cigarettes in concrete to try to get them through customs in Singapore.

In April American officials shut down a warehouse containing about US20 million dollars in illegal cigarettes.