Read this courtesy of CigarCyclopedia:

Los Angeles, May 29 – “This isn’t someone coming back with a box of Cohibas. We don’t go after people unless they’re making a lot of money.”

That’s Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Molloy, in an interview with Pat Gillespie of the Florida News-Press, about 68-year-old Douglas Hiner, who was indicted in Federal court last week for importing illegal Cuban merchandise and for conspiracy to import the items.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Customs officials intercepted Hiner’s 53-foot sailboat on May 13 and stated that they found 361 cigars and cigarettes from Cuba aboard. A further investigation led authorities to a North Fort Myers storage facility where they found a cache of what they described as more than 28,000 Cuban cigars and 42 bottles of Cuban rum. Both are illegal under the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba. The U.S. Attorneys office said that Hiner was not selling the cigars in his home area.

Hiner told the reporter, “It’s kind of crazy that Cuban cigars are of such importance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” He pled not guilty and was released after a hearing on $50,000 bond.

It’s the second big Cuban cigar score this year for Federal Customs officials. In February, 43-year-old Martin Sengseis was indicted for importing Cuban cigars and other restricted items. He and another man ran a 51-foot sail boat aground near Fort Myers Beach and were found with 364 boxes of Cuban cigars, 100 cartons of Cuban cigarettes, 45 bottles of Cuban rum and 30 pounds of Cuban coffee.

In Sengseis’s case, Coast Guard officials said they found items that were marked as being from Cuba in plain sight when they inspected the boat. Hines was reportedly more careful and authorities found the cigars and rum aboard the ship after a thorough search which prosecutors say also turned up 26 separate compartments that were to be used for smuggling.

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