Mokena Distributor Involved in Cigarette-Trafficking Case

The United States Department of Justice announced April 15 that Mazher Ali Khan, 49, of Evergreen Park has been convicted in a Wisconsin federal case involving the trafficking of contraband cigarettes. 

According  a U.S. Department of Justice release, a jury found Kahn guilty of three counts of contraband cigarette trafficking, which he ran out of MAK Distributors, Inc. in Mokena. Each offense is punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 fines.

According to the original indictment, which came after a yearlong Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms investigation, Kahn and eight other defendants conspired to possess and transport unstamped cigarettes in quantities of 10,000 or more from Wisconsin to Illinois to evade Illinois state and local taxes.

In addition, the indictment also alleged that individual defendants possessed and transported between one and 182 cases (or between 12,000 to over 2 million cigarettes), and that collectively they evaded between $1 million and $4.6 million in state and local taxes. 

Another defendant, Shaki Wamiq, 32, of Elgin was also convicted by a federal jury on Friday. Six others “resolved their cases prior to trial,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

 “This prosecution and the investigation on which it was premised reflects the continuing, focused commitment of federal law enforcement to identify, pursue, and bring to justice those individuals who not only engage in the unlawful trafficking of contraband but do so in a manner that compromises the legitimate business operations of law-abiding entrepreneurs,” U.S. Attorney James L. Santelle said in a press release.

“In concert with the prosecuting attorneys and professional staff of my office, the ATF Special Agents investigated, developed, and presented compelling evidence of criminal behavior here in Wisconsin and in Illinois, and Friday’s verdict—along with the previous convictions of the other co-defendants—should serve as a deterrent to others who may consider like conduct.”

Kahn is set to be sentenced in July.

Darren McRoy contributed to this report