NYC, California sue Postal Service over smuggled cigarettes

California and New York City sued the U.S. Postal Service to stop tens of thousands of cigarette packages from being mailed from foreign countries to U.S. residents, saying the smugglers are engaging in tax evasion while postal workers look the other way.

The lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court blames the Postal Service for deliveries from Vietnam, China, Israel and other countries, saying the failure to enforce a federal law aimed at banning cigarette mail deliveries costs California an average of $19 million annually in tax revenues and New York City and state over $21 million each year.

The lawsuit seeks a court order to force the Postal Service to intercept and destroy packages believed to contain cigarettes.

Postal Service spokesman David Coleman said in an email the Postal Service doesn’t comment on active litigation.

Authorities estimate as many as 6 million packs of cigarettes are delivered by mail each year to California and 5 million packs to New York City and state.