- Tanvir Raffi, of Yorktown, was pulled over Saturday morning for a traffic violation
- He has been charged with possession of untaxed tobacco products and attempting to evade or defeat tax after the cigarettes were found in his car
- Virginia is a hotspot for interstate cigarette trafficking because the law allows businesses to buy the product wholesale without paying the state sales tax
Tanvir Raffi, of Yorktown, was pulled over Saturday morning for a traffic violation
A driver has been arrested in Virginia after police allegedly found more than $73,000 in untaxed cigarettes in his vehicle during a traffic stop in Delaware.
Tanvir Raffi, of Yorktown, Virginia, was pulled over by Georgetown police at around 11am on Saturday over a traffic violation.
They say they found a total of 5,060 packs of cigarettes during a consensual search of his Ford Explorer.
Raffi was arrested on four counts of possession of untaxed tobacco products and one count of attempting to evade or defeat tax. He was arraigned and released on $6,400 unsecured bond.
Virginia is a hotspot for interstate cigarette trafficking, since businesses can buy the product wholesale without paying the state sales tax.
Earlier this year, a Fredericksburg man pleaded guilty to trafficking more than $7million worth of cigarettes he obtained using a gas station as a front.
He was arrested after police say they found 5,060 packs of cigarettes in his car