Two cigar shops in Fort Lauderdale, USA have had some cigars seized, Montecristo, Romeo y julieta and H Uppmann. Broward Sheriff's Office detectives say they are probebly not the real thing.


The two shops in question are The Carolina Cigar Company and the Fort Lauderdale Smoke Cafe which is on Oakland Park Boulevard.


According to BSO detectives, agents representing Altadis USA, Inc., the corporate owners of such trademarked cigars as Monte-Cristo, Romeo y Julieta and H. Upmann Monarch, contacted them about the possible sale of counterfeit cigars at the two shops.


A representative of the Cigar company along with detectives went into the stores on three different locations and purchased a couple of boxes valued at $250 each. It is state law that you must pay sales tax but when the detectives paid cash the sellers did not charge them the tax.


The bogus stogies were then examined at the cigar company’s headquarters in Fort Lauderdale and determined to be counterfeit.


That’s all detectives needed. Warrants in hand, they went to both shops and seized the stock, arresting both 47 year old Allen Boyd and 63 year old James David Joiner. 40 to 45 suspect cigar boxes were confiscated at each location, and detectives say they believed that the counterfeit cigars were illegally packaged at the rear of each business and at a separate location in Miami-Dade County.





The fake cigars are worth between $20,000 and $25,000, but those profits will be going up in smoke. They won’t be used at the next BSO birthday celebration; instead, the cigars will be burned. Both Boyd and Joiner are free on $500 bond and the investigation continues.