Almost a century on from prohibition, US bootleggers are back in business

Prohibition in the US may have ended in December 1933, but the bootleggers are back.

In the 1920s, illicit alcohol was smuggled into the US from Canada. Now the source is New Hampshire, where prices in state-run liquor outlets are considerably lower than in neighbouring states.

Many of the liquor stores are close to the state line and they offer rich pickings to modern-day smugglers who are buying vast quantities of alcohol and selling it on at a considerable profit on the black market.

Alcohol is big business in New Hampshire, where the state has a monopoly on hard liquor sales and also accounts for 70 per cent of the wine market.

Being able to buy in bulk gives the state purchasing power that enables it to undercut its neighbours. Not levying sales tax makes alcohol even more competitive.

According to the latest figures, New Hampshire raises $700 million (Dh2.57 billion) a year in sales from its 79 liquor stores, with $160m going to the state treasury.

Smugglers pay in cash in transactions that are usually just below the $10,000 threshold that triggers a reporting requirement to the authorities.

The chance of making a healthy profit by transporting liquor in bulk was, prosecutors said, too irresistible for 45-yearold Juncheng Chen to resist.

Chen, from Queen’s, New York was picked up with 757 litres of alcohol in his car in December.

His Chevrolet Suburban was packed with more than 500 bot-