Cuban Cigars Smuggling Stogies Online A growing number of foreign websites sell Cuban cigars to US residents. Find out if there's anything law enforcement can do about it Tuesday 7/9 at 9 p.m. Eastern on 'CyberCrime.' By Jack Karp They're considered the most impressive of imports, the most refined of relaxations, the most vaunted of vices. They're Cuban cigars, but if you live in the United States, you can't buy them. Thanks to the trade embargo the US government imposed on Cuba in 1962, Cuban cigars are considered contraband. However, as we show you on 'CyberCrime' this week, an increasing number of US cigar aficionados are finding it easier than ever to smuggle the illicit cigars into this country using the Internet. "Buying Cuban cigars over the Internet is extremely easy," one anonymous Cuban cigar smoker told "CyberCrime." "It's as easy as buying books on Amazon.com." That's because other countries don't have trade embargoes against Cuba. In past decades, smokers longing for a good, hearty Cuban cigar had to travel outside US borders to purchase a banned stogie. Now all they have to do is fire up their computers. Type the phrase "Cuban cigars" into any search engine, and you'll find hundreds of websites, online retailers, and clubs that sell Cuban cigars over the Internet. Many will ship cigars to the United States. The Cuban Cigars Club, for instance, advertises on the front page of its website, "We deliver to your door anywhere in the world, including [the] USA." Club Havana claims on its website, "We deliver to customers in Canada, the United States, and around the world." Club Havana's site even points out that its store in White Rock, British Columbia, is just "a short two-hour drive north of Seattle." Stephen Mawdsley operates one of these foreign cigar retailers, and he claims that approximately 90 percent of the customers who shop at his Casa de Malahato in Victoria, Canada, are from the United States. He also estimates that he does most of his business online. "You give them your credit card, you tell them which ones you want, and you close the deal," our anonymous cigar smoker said of such websites. "Within a week or two weeks, your cigars arrive in a package, either [by] US mail or by courier." US law enforcement agents can do nothing to stop these websites, since they operate in countries where US laws do not apply. "Unless there's some treaty with that country that says we'll cooperate on this issue, putting an obligation on that country to go out and squash that operation, then there's absolutely nothing" that can be done, US Customs Service supervisory inspector Mike Freatis said. "If it's legal in that country, then it's legal." But that doesn't make it legal in this country, Freatis points out. The penalties for smuggling Cuban cigars into the United States include, in addition to confiscation of the cigars, civil fines of up to $55,000 per violation and, in certain cases, criminal prosecution that could lead to higher fines or imprisonment. Freatis and customs officials at the US Customs Service mail-inspection facility in Oakland, California, and at eight other inspection facilities around the country, inspect packages arriving in the United States for contraband goods, including Cuban cigars. In 1999, customs agents confiscated nearly 300,000 of the illegal stogies. In 2000, the Customs Service mounted a major raid, sweeping through upscale Manhattan restaurants and clubs like Patroon and 21 Club, and arresting managers and patrons alike. But Freatis said he guesses a large number of Cuban cigars are still slipping into the United States despite customs officials' enforcement efforts. With more than 3 million packages being sorted each month at the Oakland customs facility alone, it is impossible for agents to stop all the cigar smugglers. So, as long as the embargo is maintained, as long as there are people in the United States who choose to smoke Cuban cigars, and as long as there are online retailers in other countries willing to ship those cigars to the United States, Cuban cigars will continue to make their way past Freatis and his colleagues and into this country. "I don't think the Cuban government is benefiting by my buying a few boxes of cigars a year," our anonymous smoker said. "And I don't think anybody is being hurt by my breaking the law, so I just choose to break it." This article was first published on August 14, 2001, and is based on original reporting by "CyberCrime" segment producer Jon Taylor. Originally posted July 9, 2002 Copyright © 2003 TechTV Inc. All rights reserved. Use of Techtv.com is subject to certain terms and conditions. We respect your privacy. http://www.techtv.com/cybercrime/print/0,23102,3336772,00.html return to Cuban Cigars home page |
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