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July 20, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Brooklyn, New York, Resident Indicted
for Trafficking in Contraband Cigarettes

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA — A 22 year old Brooklyn, New York, resident was named in an Indictment returned on July 19, 2011, by a Federal Grand Jury sitting in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that MOHAMMAD D. MOHAMMAD was named in a one-count Indictment. The Indictment alleges that MOHAMMAD transported and possessed contraband cigarettes on March 29, 2011, in Lewis County, West Virginia, which bore no evidence of the payment of applicable state cigarette taxes in the State of West Virginia. The Indictment includes a forfeiture count wherein the United States seeks to forfeit over 900 cartons of cigarettes and $499.00 in United States currency which were seized from MOHAMMAD on March 29, 2011.

If convicted, MOHAMMAD faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Zelda E. Wesley. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.

It should be noted that the charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and not evidence of guilt, and that each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.