The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

All-Points Bulletin: Maryland State Police Seeking Incompetent Fugitive Smuggler

Posted on | June 15, 2010 | 23 Comments

Loathsome evil cigarettes:

A bench warrant was issued Tuesday for a New York man who failed to appear in Washington County Circuit Court on charges of smuggling hundreds of packs of untaxed cigarettes.
Chandrakant Petigara, 70, of 212-29 Hillside Ave., Apt. 3JE, Queens Village, was scheduled to be in court to face charges of transporting unstamped cigarettes and possession of untaxed cigarettes . . .
Petigara was arrested March 23 after a traffic stop by Maryland State Police, who were operating radar on northbound Interstate 81 near Halfway Boulevard when they pulled over a Honda Civic that was traveling 67 mph in a 60-mph zone . . . .

(Note: I have never driven 67 mph on that highway. You can ask any of the local troopers. Eighty-seven, yes; 67, never.)

The trooper found 166 cartons of cigarettes inside black plastic trash bags, the statement said.
The cigarettes did not have Maryland tax stamps and Petigara did not have a permit to transport untaxed cigarettes into or through the state . . .
After being taken into custody, Petigara allegedly offered a state police corporal $2,000 to let him go . . .

(Note: This is the wrong way to bribe a Maryland state trooper. Just “accidently” slip him a $20 when you hand over your license. Once he’s found your payload of contraband and put you in cuffs, $2,000 is kind of low-balling.)

The tax owed to Maryland on the cigarettes was $3,320, based on a tax of $2 per pack . . . The retail value of the 1,660 packs of cigarettes was $9,511.80 based on a price of $5.73 a pack . . .
This was at least the third arrest for Mr. Petigara for smuggling untaxed cigarettes.

So that’s three strikes: He’s a foreigner with a funny name who drives too slow and doesn’t understand American bribery customs.

Anyone who knows the whereabouts of Chandrakant Petigara is urged to contact the Maryland State Police immediately.

These incompetent amateur cigarette smugglers are a menace to society, because their failures are driving up the cost of bootleg smokes. If you really want Marlboros at $35 a carton from Virginia or illegal fireworks at Tennessee wholesale prices . . .

Hey, I’m only a blogger. These are just jokes. Hit the tip jar.

Category: Crime, Maryland

Comments

23 Responses to “All-Points Bulletin: Maryland State Police Seeking Incompetent Fugitive Smuggler”

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  2. Steven
    June 15th, 2010 @ 5:34 am

    Wasn’t HAMAS known to be raising funds in the US by smuggling cigarettes?

  3. Steven
    June 15th, 2010 @ 1:34 am

    Wasn’t HAMAS known to be raising funds in the US by smuggling cigarettes?

  4. Roxeanne de Luca
    June 15th, 2010 @ 5:52 am

    Now, I can understand criminalising possession, but transport through a state? Problematically, you’ve just implicated Constitutional issues and federal control (the right to travel and interstate commerce, respectively).

    As for the speed limit: WVa is 70 mph, so you have to watch out on the Virginia side, going south, and the MD side, going north, for cops, who are just dying to pull over people who don’t obey the sudden drop in maximum legal velocity. I always found it more sensible to do a sedate 65 mph through there, then make up my time once I got about 15 miles over the PA border (the lower 15 miles, from what I remember, is covered in police) or about 5 miles over the VA border.

  5. Roxeanne de Luca
    June 15th, 2010 @ 1:52 am

    Now, I can understand criminalising possession, but transport through a state? Problematically, you’ve just implicated Constitutional issues and federal control (the right to travel and interstate commerce, respectively).

    As for the speed limit: WVa is 70 mph, so you have to watch out on the Virginia side, going south, and the MD side, going north, for cops, who are just dying to pull over people who don’t obey the sudden drop in maximum legal velocity. I always found it more sensible to do a sedate 65 mph through there, then make up my time once I got about 15 miles over the PA border (the lower 15 miles, from what I remember, is covered in police) or about 5 miles over the VA border.

  6. Moe Lane
    June 15th, 2010 @ 9:16 am

    $35 for a carton of Marlboros is cheap? Yeah, you can tell I haven’t smoked for a while.

  7. Moe Lane
    June 15th, 2010 @ 5:16 am

    $35 for a carton of Marlboros is cheap? Yeah, you can tell I haven’t smoked for a while.

  8. Virginia Right! News Hound for 6/15/2010 | Virginia Right!
    June 15th, 2010 @ 6:31 am

    […] All-Points Bulletin: Maryland State Police Seeking Incompetent Fugitive Smuggler […]

  9. Count Vikula
    June 15th, 2010 @ 1:26 pm

    Free Chandrakant Petigara!!!!

    (or free him if he gets caught)

  10. Count Vikula
    June 15th, 2010 @ 9:26 am

    Free Chandrakant Petigara!!!!

    (or free him if he gets caught)

  11. Robert Stacy McCain
    June 15th, 2010 @ 3:57 pm

    Yeah, you can tell I haven’t smoked for a while.

    Lucky you!

  12. Robert Stacy McCain
    June 15th, 2010 @ 11:57 am

    Yeah, you can tell I haven’t smoked for a while.

    Lucky you!

  13. Bob Belvedere
    June 15th, 2010 @ 11:10 pm

    Stacy: I just spent some time reading the comments on about six of your postings and this gg turns up multiple times in nearly each one. You have a stalker on your hands…either that or someone with a ‘mental disability’ who is getting checks from some government.

  14. Bob Belvedere
    June 15th, 2010 @ 7:10 pm

    Stacy: I just spent some time reading the comments on about six of your postings and this gg turns up multiple times in nearly each one. You have a stalker on your hands…either that or someone with a ‘mental disability’ who is getting checks from some government.

  15. Robert Stacy McCain
    June 15th, 2010 @ 11:39 pm

    You have a stalker on your hands

    Hits is hits, Bob. “gg” first popped up in the comments criticizing my “stereotype Stupid American” viewpoint. I did a quick search to locate the IP address and identified “gg” as posting from India. That exchange seems to have turned me into an addiction for “gg.”

    Well, so what? How does anyone become a regular at a site? Because “gg” was originally hostile does not mean that he or she will remain hostile. Next time we find occasion to blog about news from India or Pakistan, perhaps “gg” will have something helpful to contribute.

    Marlboros at $20 a carton? That’s a bargain. Why are cigarette taxes so low over there?

  16. Robert Stacy McCain
    June 15th, 2010 @ 7:39 pm

    You have a stalker on your hands

    Hits is hits, Bob. “gg” first popped up in the comments criticizing my “stereotype Stupid American” viewpoint. I did a quick search to locate the IP address and identified “gg” as posting from India. That exchange seems to have turned me into an addiction for “gg.”

    Well, so what? How does anyone become a regular at a site? Because “gg” was originally hostile does not mean that he or she will remain hostile. Next time we find occasion to blog about news from India or Pakistan, perhaps “gg” will have something helpful to contribute.

    Marlboros at $20 a carton? That’s a bargain. Why are cigarette taxes so low over there?

  17. Bob Belvedere
    June 15th, 2010 @ 11:58 pm

    Why are cigarette taxes so low over there?

    PC hasn’t taken hold there yet, I suspect. In some ways they’re more British in their attitudes than the British.

    gg may come around, but I wouldn’t mention to him your campaign to become the First Gentile President Of Israel just yet…oops.

  18. Bob Belvedere
    June 15th, 2010 @ 7:58 pm

    Why are cigarette taxes so low over there?

    PC hasn’t taken hold there yet, I suspect. In some ways they’re more British in their attitudes than the British.

    gg may come around, but I wouldn’t mention to him your campaign to become the First Gentile President Of Israel just yet…oops.

  19. richard mcenroe
    June 16th, 2010 @ 5:39 am

    OK, I’ve read the post and the comments, and I;m still confused: exactly what made this guy an incompetent smuggler of fugitives?

  20. richard mcenroe
    June 16th, 2010 @ 1:39 am

    OK, I’ve read the post and the comments, and I;m still confused: exactly what made this guy an incompetent smuggler of fugitives?

  21. Bob Belvedere
    June 16th, 2010 @ 11:22 am

    Stacy: On your response to my comments: point taken.

  22. Bob Belvedere
    June 16th, 2010 @ 7:22 am

    Stacy: On your response to my comments: point taken.

  23. The Stamp Act Redux? « The Camp Of The Saints
    June 16th, 2010 @ 3:17 pm

    […] Stacy posted about this story for totally different reasons then I did and, in his usual manner, was quite entertaining in his comments, so I would urge you to head on over to TOM and read his one. Possibly related […]