New York women arrested in Missouri cigarette scheme

FORISTELL, Mo. — Authorities said two New York women who were arrested in eastern Missouri after jumping out a second-story motel window and running half-naked across Interstate 70 are suspected in a black-market cigarette scheme.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported 160 cartons of cigarettes and about two dozen fake credit cards were found after the women’s arrest Thursday in the town of Foristell. Police said the women admitted they had driven around the nearby St. Louis area in a rented car buying them up, with plans to sell them in New York, which has the nation’s highest cigarette tax. Missouri’s is the lowest.

Because of the different tax rates, a pack of cigarettes that costs a little over $5 in St. Louis can fetch more than $12 in Manhattan.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com