Brooklyn Cigarette Traffickers Busted In Operation Sidestep: AG

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- Three men who smuggled more than 1.25 million untaxed cigarettes from Virginia into Brooklyn now face criminal charges, the Attorney General's office announced.

The suspects — Maryland residents Basel and Samir Ramadan, 47 and 45, and Fahd “Ahmed Abdullah” Muthana, 39, of Brooklyn — were busted in state, federal and city-run investigation dubbed "Operation Sidestep" for allegedly funneling about 1,500 cartons of untaxed cigarettes per week into the borough, Attorney General Barbara Underwood said.

“These traffickers are charged with sidestepping the law, which put legitimate, law-abiding businesses at a disadvantage," Underwood said in a statement, "while cheating New Yorkers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes.”

A months-long investigation discovered approximately 1,255,000 cigarettes had been smuggled into retail shops across Brooklyn and that the traffickers evaded an estimated $426,700 in tax payments to New York City and New York State, officials said.

Authorities found more than 341,000 untaxed cigarettes in a Brooklyn storage unit as well as three handguns, a shotgun and more than $312,000 in cash from the Ramadans’ Maryland home, officials said.

The Ramadans were arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court Thursday and Muthana was arraigned earlier this month on a 21-count indictment that includes charges of criminal tax fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy, according to the Attorney General's office.

Bail for Samir Ramadan was set at $2 million cash and the three men are expected to return to court on Dec. 19, according to the Attorney General's office.

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