Cigarettes are in the news again, but this time it's not about banning the smoking of them.
Eleven men from the St. Louis and Chicago areas are facing federal indictment for allegedly trafficking in contraband cigarettes.
The U.S. Attorney's office in St. Louis announced the indictments on Thursday. Four of the men are from suburban St. Louis, five are from Chicago and two are from Chicago suburbs.
Authorities say the illegal enterprise supplied hundreds of thousands of contraband cigarettes to people in Missouri and Illinois. The participants allegedly sold the cigarettes without paying state and local cigarette taxes.
