HAUPPAUGE - A Poospatuck Reservation smoke shop owner pleaded not guilty in Suffolk district court to possession and transportation of untaxed cigarettes and for attempting to evade New York State cigarette tax laws.

Ronald Bell, who is currently on parole for cigarette trafficking, purchased and attempted to receive nearly 6,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes through the mail from an upstate unlicensed cigarette manufacturer. 

Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said investigators seized the “Nations Best” brand cigarettes from Bell when the defendant received delivery Wednesday at his store, the Flying Arrow Smoke Shop on Poospatuck Lane in Mastic.

“The defendant intended to sell these cigarettes and avoid more than $160,000 in excise taxes and $25,000 in state and county sales taxes,” Spota said.  “We also know that these cigarettes were made by an unlicensed, unregulated cigarette manufacturer, JTC Tobacco, in upstate Hogansburg.”

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by investigation the Tax Crimes Unit of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Suffolk County Police Department, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, the US Postal Service and the United States Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. 

Bell was on parole for a conviction in 2007 for possessing and transporting more than 20,000 untaxed cigarettes.