I read a post the other day about someone ordering cubans online and getting a letter from customs telling them that they took the package.
So, my question is, well what happens when you get caught doing that? Anyone have any experience with this issue??
F.P.N # 2 FSN# 840 "A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!" ----------------------------------- Warning! Do not cut your cigars down, it may cause Damage. That is all. ----------------------------------- I refuse to tip toe through life only to arrive safely at death. ----------------------------------- "F*&K the G ride, i want the machines that are making them" __________________________ A Society of sheep begets a goverment of Wolves.
Posts: 1798 | Location: Hollywood, CA USA | Registered: September 16, 2003
They come to your house and bring all the thompson cigars they can get and make you smoke them all.
They have a form letter and send it out to you saying your package was seized by customs and explaining the fines and imprisonment laws for trading with the ENEMY.
You IGNORE IT, or use it to light one of the other Cubans that got by them. al
Posts: 492 | Location: south of Boston | Registered: November 04, 2003
the letter says its illegal, but you can come to the office to contest the seizure. They don't have the resources to really go after people for one or two boxes of cigars. . .the risk is that, eventually, they WILL make an example out of someone. . .i believe the recent modifications to the embargo set fines at around $60k.
Posts: 1540 | Location: Boston | Registered: February 28, 2003
What I find amazing is in the latest issue of CA, most of the Sports Personalities they profiled in the magazine, as well as Bill Murray, openly mentioned having Cuban cigars in their humidors.
How do they get away with this without getting a call from the Treasury Dept?
Importation of Cuban-Origin Cigars Into the United States There is now an across the board ban on the importation into the United States of Cuban-origin cigars and other Cuban-origin tobacco products, as well as most other products of Cuban origin. This prohibition extends to such products acquired in Cuba, irrespective of whether a traveler is licensed by OFAC to engage in Cuba travelrelated transactions, and to such products acquired in third countries by any U.S. traveler, including purchases at duty free shops. Importation of these Cuban goods is prohibited whether the goods are purchased directly by the importer or given to the importer as a gift. Similarly, the import ban extends to Cuban-origin tobacco products offered for sale over the Internet or through the catalog mail purchases. Prior to August 1, 2004, persons returning to the United States who were licensed under the Regulations to engage in Cuba travel-related transactions were authorized by general license to import up to $100 worth of Cuban merchandise as accompanied baggage. Cuban tobacco and alcohol products were included in that general license. That general license was removed from the Regulations.
Criminal penalties for violation of the Regulations range up to $1,000,000 in fines for corporations, $250,000 for individuals and up to 10 years in prison. Civil penalties of up to $65,000 per violation may be imposed by OFAC.
That $100 in merchandise was nothing and trust me the Customs officials at the border KNOW what cigars cost. You aren't going to claim a box of PSD#4's costs $100 and slip it by. They are ALL OVER you if you return from Cuba on an official visit.
"W" may have tightend that law, but not even I, as a Bush hater, can blame him for it. That law is archaic and doesn't work, plain and simple. If it wasn't for the Cuban "exile" (many anti-Castro Cuban-Americans were born here) population that law would have been repealed ages ago.
Clinton came as close as any president to lifting the embargo but didn't. Some say he did'nt lift it to appease Cuban "Exiles" and deny Bush another weapon in his election bid.
