30,000 Cuban cigars seized at O’Hare

BY JIM SCALZITTI Staff Reporter
Dec 7, 2010 01:16AM

If you tried to order Cuban cigars by way of Switzerland, your prized treat could be on its way to being destroyed by customs agents.

More than 30,000 illegal Cuban cigars have been seized at O’Hare Airport in the last two weeks, according to Customs and Border Protection.

Cigars or any product of Cuban origin are illegal because of a U.S. embargo. But buyers have tried ordering the cigars through Swiss sellers that ignore the embargo.

Officials said the recent seizures were the largest they’d seen at O’Hare. The spike follows a change in policy that moved many small cargo parcels off of passenger planes and onto cargo jets. The result has been an increase in European mail arriving on cargo aircraft to Chicago, including the cigars from Switzerland.

“Our officers stationed at CBP mail facilities routinely discover and seize a variety of contraband arriving from all over the world, but this is the first time in Chicago we have seen this level of activity involving illegal cigars,â€