RI men sentenced for counterfeiting

RI men sentenced for counterfeiting

USA: Two Indonesian citizens accused of leading a multimillion- dollar money-laundering ring that produced counterfeit cigarette papers were sentenced on Tuesday to 15 months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn also ordered that Anand Nanawani, 27, and Jaipai Singh, 29, serve two years probation after completing their prison terms.

The U.S. government will begin deportation proceedings afterward, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

Customs investigators determined that Nanawani and Singh produced counterfeit Zig-Zag cigarette papers in Jakarta, Indonesia, and sold them in the Detroit area for much less than the genuine product.

They headed an operation that laundered about US$1 million between March 2000 and February 2004, the approximate period in which they imported counterfeit Zig-Zag papers with a retail value of $16 million, Customs spokesman Greg Palmore said in a statement. --AP