March 7, 2007
(Hawkesbury, Ontario) On February 28th, 2007, at 2:00 a.m., an officer from the Ontario Provincial Police Hawkesbury Detachment observed a passenger van parked at the parking lot of the Holiday Inn located on McGill Street in Hawkesbury, Ontario. Upon further examination by the officer, he observed that the cargo area of the van was loaded with contraband cigarettes. The officer noticed that the rear seats had been removed and the entire useable area was tightly packed with cardboard boxes of contraband cigarettes. The officer then located a second passenger van in the same parking lot that had been converted for cargo transportation and a similar load of contraband cigarettes was observed. Further investigation revealed that both vans were registered to the same person. The Central St. Lawrence Valley RCMP Detachment was contacted and the two vans were seized and escorted back to Cornwall to process.
Located in the two vans were 2,200 re-sealable bags of contraband cigarettes, 550 Cartons of Canadian Original brand cigarettes, 500 Cartons of Canadian Light brand cigarettes, 120 cartons of Native Full Flavour brand cigarettes, 120 cartons of Native Lights brand cigarettes and 250 pouches of Golden Leaf Medium brand loose leaf tobacco. Each pouch represents 200 grams each and is equivalent to one carton or re-sealable bag of cigarettes. In total this seizure represents a total of 698,000 cigarettes and 50,000 grams of loose leaf tobacco that were manufactured in Canada as well as the United States. The vans were unattended and the registered owner of the vehicles is a 46 year old female resident of Paul Anka Drive in Ottawa, Ontario. The investigation continues.
The Hawkesbury OPP has stopped numerous vehicles with contraband tobacco in recent weeks. There is an increase in tobacco smuggling throughout the region and many police agencies are aware of the problem and will continue to disrupt the criminal activities of organized crime groups.
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Sgt. Michael Harvey
(613)937-2831
Central St. Lawrence Valley RCMP Detachment