ATF seizes 12 million counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes made in China

Federal authorities seized 12 million counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes made in China from a Springfield storage unit, the largest bogus cigarette bust in the region’s history, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman told The Examiner.

Agents came across the 60,000 packs of smokes July 2 after they arrested Bing Feng Mai who had agreed to trade the counterfeit cigarettes for untaxed cigarettes with an undercover ATF agent, court documents filed in Alexandria’s federal court said. By then, the undercover agent had sold Mai $2 million of untaxed cigarettes over a period of four months, an ATF agent wrote in a sworn statement.