A Brooklyn, N.Y., man was being held in the Howard County Detention Center last night after state investigators stopped his car on Interstate 95 near Waterloo and found 2,320 packages of cigarettes without the required state tax stamps.

Gutek Hachbaum, 51, whose Lincoln Continental was stopped just before 2 p.m. near the Route 175 interchange, was being held in lieu of $2,500 bail after he was charged with illegal possession and transportation of cigarettes not bearing Maryland tax stamps, said Marvin Bond, a spokesman for the state comptroller's office.

Hachbaum could be fined up to $25 per carton or sentenced to a year in jail if convicted, Bond said.

Bond said that state agents had been following Hachbaum from Virginia, where he purchased a variety of brands without having to pay the 36-cent-a-pack Maryland tax on cigarettes.

Virginia cigarette taxes range from 4 cents a pack in Northern Virginia jurisdictions to 2 cents a pack in the Richmond area, Bond said.

Maryland law allows nonresidents to transport a carton of cigarettes with another state's stamps through the state or transport larger quantities, with a license from the state and a bill of lading.

Pub Date: 11/06/98