RICHMOND, Va. — Earlier this week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch published an extensive article analyzing the growing problem of illicit interstate cigarette trafficking, particularly along the East Coast from Virginia (with a state cigarette tax of 30 cents per pack) to New York (with a state cigarette tax of $4.35 per pack, higher in New York City).

According to the article, the economics driving the trafficking are simple and irresistible: a $4 or $5 pack of cigarettes in Virginia can fetch up to $12 to $15 in New York City, although most sell there for $8 to $9 because savvy shoppers expect a discount for cigarettes with Virginia tax stamps. The two states are just a few hours apart on Interstate 95, and a one-day round trip in a car or a van can earn thousands of dollars.

While the problem is dismissed by many in Virginia as New York’s own self-inflicted headache, and law enforcement efforts are sometimes slighted as little more than tax collection, many law enforcement experts acknowledge that trafficking is an immense problem that has introduced growing elements of organized crime to Virginia. After all, cigarette traffickers don’t just bring cash to Virginia to buy the cigarettes — in many cases their payment currency is firearms, drugs, stolen jewelry or cars.

The illegal profit on cigarette trafficking is enormous and the practice is growing, moving from smaller scale operations to more extensive operations that use seemingly legitimate businesses as a cover for their more lucrative illegal efforts. And in many cases, traffickers don’t even bother setting up a real business, simply creating businesses on paper only, in order to buy hundreds of tax-free cartons at a time from wholesale stores for underground distribution. Further, it is not unheard of for the money from cigarette trafficking to be used to support terrorism or other criminal enterprises, as the Times-Dispatch article cites several instances of this over the past decades. The full article is available on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website.