An illegal cigarette trafficking case that included the indictment of a Roanoke Rapids who died awaiting sentencing was resolved today with the transfer of more than $3 million in uncollected tax revenue to the state Department of Revenue.

The United States Attorney Office also announced in a press release that $500,580 was transferred to the New Jersey Department of Revenue.

The $3,629,266.50 to North Carolina and the amount to New Jersey were ordered as restitution in United States Court in U.S. versus Mustafa, three illegal cigarette trafficking cases investigated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives indicted in February of 2011, according to a news release from United States Attorney Thomas Walker.

One of the people indicted in the case was Sobhi Sheeadeh of Roanoke Rapids, who once ran a candy store on Tenth Street across from Hardee’s.

Sheeadeh, along with three others, pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport stolen goods valued at more than $5,000 in interstate commerce.

According to information obtained from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Raleigh this afternoon, Sheeadeh, who had a Thelma Road address, died February 8, 2012, at Vidant Inpatient Hospice in Greenville.

The cause of death was listed as metastatic adenocarcinoma and the United States Court abated the case against him on March 8, 2012.

The arrest of Sheeadeh and others in the case was the result of an undercover investigation detecting untaxed tobacco, which was then resold for profit in the New York City metropolitan area. Before the operation ended in 2010, agents had collected over $9 million in tobacco proceeds in a monitored account.

While that money was deposited in the United States Treasury at the cases’ conclusion, the money paid to the states of North Carolina and New Jersey today from those proceeds constitutes the unpaid tax on the tobacco.

“In a time of fiscal austerity, I am pleased to be able to present the State of North Carolina with over $3.6 million, representing tax that should have been paid on trafficked cigarettes,” Walker said in the press release. “This brings to a conclusion a very successful investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”

All of the other defendants remain incarcerated.

Omar M. Nijim was sentenced on December 13, 2011 to 33 months imprisonment. Emad Hasan, Tawfiq Wshah and Nabil Nafiz Mustafa were sentenced on January 10, 2012 to 26 and 20 months imprisonment, respectively.

The defendants were made jointly and severally liable for payment of restitution.