Crime Pattern ID: Theft/Smuggling of Cigarettes

Pattern: Theft/Smuggling of Cigarettes

Victims: businesses, tax authorities

Perpetrators: those wanting to make quick profit from selling cigarettes, has been linked to funding terrorism and organized crime

Locations: cigarettes are stolen in many areas (no limits to that), smuggling cigarettes into high-taxed states is most profitable

Tools: may have counterfeit tax stamps

Vehicles/Transportation Routes: interstate using large trailers

Stolen Goods: cigarettes

Method: varies, read resources below

Motive: profit for any reason - can make over a million on one truckload of cigarettes

Query Terms: cigarette, carton, case, tax stamp, name brands of cigarettes

Suggestions: look for high volume thefts of cigarettes in your data, track ALL large thefts of cigarettes (more than an individual could smoke), look for patterns and indicators of organized theft rings

Resources:

THE GLOBAL ILLICIT TRADE IN TOBACCO: A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY

Fact Sheet - Tobacco Enforcement