Thomasville man charged in cigarette scheme worth millions

A cigarette scheme that the U.S. Department of Justice says profited five individuals more than $2.4 million has led to the federal indictment of a Thomasville man, the office of U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina George E.B. Holding on Monday.

Nabil Nafiz Mustafa, 26, of Thomasville, was charged with three other men from the Eastern part of the state and one from New York after an alleged scheme to illegally trade and transport large quantities of cigarettes was unveiled. The investigation was done in combination with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the N.C. Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement; and the Zebulon Police Department.

The men made their first appearance in court on Feb. 24.

According to the news release, 40 counts were returned on the five individuals wich carry several years of prison time each. Charges include: conspiring to transport, receive cigarettes in quantities exceeding 10,000 without the requisite tax stamp; aiding and abetting transportation of stolen goods of value more than $5,000 in interstate commerce; and aiding and abetting the evasion of taxes by the purchase, possession and sale of “export only” cigarettes without federal taxes outside the United States.

The indictment stated the individuals had been repeatedly meeting up in North Carolina, South Carolina or Virginia to travel together with large quantities of cash to purchase the illegal cigarettes in New Jersey. Mustafa, according to the indictment, would meet up with a supplier there and transport the cigarettes back to North Carolina. Any profits from the venture were re-invested into the scheme. The Justice Department estimates the system profited $2,263,529 from 2008 to 2011.

Others charged in the case were Emad Hasan Tawiq Wshah, 39, and Mamoun Hasah Wshah, 40, both of Winterville, Sobhi Sulieman Shehadeh, 55, of Roanoke Rapids, and Omar M. Nijim, 24, of Brooklyn, N.Y.