jury in May for allegedly being the
ringleader and enterprise treasurer
of a vast cigarette smuggling and
money laundering operation remain
behind bars this week after prelimi-
nary hearings in King's County New
York Supreme Court on Monday.
multi-million dollar cigarette smug-
gling operation with raids on two
locations in and around the Ocean
City area including the West Ocean
City homes of local residents and
business owners Basel Ramadan,
42, who has been called the opera-
tion's "ringleader," and Samer Ra-
madan, 40, who is being called the
"enterprise treasurer" of the opera-
tion.
ers to distributors to resellers, who
were also rounded up at locations
all over the mid-Atlantic region on
the same day in May.
be held on a $15 million bond and
was remanded to the custody of the
New York Justice Department.
Basel Ramadan also appeared at
the same hearing on June 4, but the
hearing was adjourned before his
bail was set and he remained in
custody without bond.
co-conspirators appeared in King's
County New York Supreme Court
for a hearing characterized by the
New York Attorney General's Office
as a "control date."
which bond review appeals can be
heard, pre-trial motions can be filed
and other business of the court re-
lated to the prosecution can be han-
dled.
was ordered to be held under the
same original conditions, meaning
his bail remains set at $15 million.
journed with a bond review and he
remains in custody without bond.
Basel Ramadan's next scheduled
court appearance is July 9, while
Samer Ramadan is not scheduled
to appear in court again until Sept.
20.
dans and their co-conspirators al-
legedly funneled thousands of car-
tons of untaxed smokes and mil-
lions of dollars in ill-gotten revenue
through Ocean City and Worcester
County from a wholesaler in Virginia
to a distribution warehouse in Dela-
ware, from whence the illegal, un-
taxed cigarettes were distributed to
retail outlets all over New York City
and upstate.
Remain In Custody
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