Posted at 6:25 p.m.; updated at 10:17 p.m., Tuesday, May 22, 2001

State stages Chinatown raid in cigarette tax crackdown

Law enforcement authorities today raided a Chinatown establishment and seized a record number of cigarettes in the state's latest and largest seizure of unstamped packs.

Three people were arrested in connection with the sale of cigarettes without tax stamps at the Maunakea Street store. Some 1,400 packs were confiscated, the largest haul in 20 seizures this year.

The arrests are part of an undercover operation on O'ahu and Kaua'i enforcing a new law requiring a tax stamp on the bottom of each pack of cigarettes sold by retailers.

An undisclosed number of arrests were also made in Hanalei and Kekaha, the state attorney general's office announced.