HARTFORD — Connecticut revenue agents have made what they are calling the largest seizure of contraband cigarettes in state history.
Department of Revenue Services spokesman Jim Carson tells The Courant that the 3,601 cartons of cigarettes with bogus tax stamps attached were headed for retail stores in Hartford and New Britain.
He says with the current state cigarette tax at $3.90 a pack, the state would have lost $140,790 in revenue, not counting sales tax.
A 49-year-old Hartford man is under arrest in connection with the seizure and more arrests are expected.
The seized cigarettes were from Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana and Michigan, all states with lower cigarette taxes than Connecticut’s. Also seized were thousands of counterfeit Connecticut and New York state tax stamps.
