Feds charge 11 in NY contraband cigarette case

Federal prosecutors in New York say 11 people have been indicted on charges of conspiring to sell untaxed cigarettes.
The U.S. attorney's office says some of the cigarettes came from the Poospatuck Indian reservation on Long Island, where the state does not impose a tax.
The prosecutor says federal agents seized more than 3,000 cartons of cigarettes and $135,000 in the operation.
The indictment announced Wednesday says the defendants would obtain up to 1,000 or more cartons at a time. It says they stored the cigarettes at rented locations in Yonkers, Mount Vernon and elsewhere. They allegedly hired workers and rented vehicles to distribute them and even paid bail for those workers who were arrested.