ANNAPOLIS - Maryland comptroller Peter Franchot announced earlier this week that agents from his Field Enforcement Division arrested 22 people and confiscated more than 82,000 packs of contraband cigarettes last month, a 69% increase in the number of arrests and a 150% spike in the amount of seized contraband compared to the same period last year, the Crisfield-Somerset County Times reports.

Cigarette violations in Maryland have risen steadily during the past few years, with $1.1 million in contraband cigarettes confiscated in fiscal year 2011 and $2.3 million in contraband seized last fiscal year.

"Cigarette smuggling has become more and more lucrative. In fact it??s become more profitable than smuggling drugs or guns," Franchot said. "We are arresting many repeat offenders because the current penalties are no more than a slap on the wrist. Stronger repercussions need to be implemented so smugglers know that these crimes won??t be tolerated in Maryland."