July 10, 2007
(Cornwall, Ontario) On July 3rd, 2007, at 9:15 p.m., officers from the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service observed a suspicious 1998 Ford Econoline van that was being driven in a suspicious manner underneath the Seaway International Bridge on Cornwall Island in Akwesasne, Ontario. When officers attempted to stop the van, the driver stopped and fled on foot. When officers approached the van they observed it to be loaded with contraband cigarettes. The officers from the Central St. Lawrence Valley RCMP detachment were contacted to attend the scene. While the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service officers were waiting for the RCMP to arrive they observed a 1998 Chevrolet Ventura van of which the license plates did not match the description of the van. Officers stopped the van which travelled from Cornwall Island to Seventh Street in Cornwall, Ontario. The officers immediately observed cases of contraband tobacco inside the van. The officer from the RCMP arrived at the scene shortly thereafter to search the van and seize the contraband cigarettes.
In the first stop, RCMP officers seized 2,900 re-sealable bags of full flavour cigarettes and 800 re-sealable bags of light flavoured cigarettes. They also seized the smuggling van which is registered to a male resident of Kahnawake, Quebec. There will be no charges in this investigation as the driver was not identified or located after he fled on foot. In the second stop, the RCMP seized 1,450 re-sealable bags of light flavoured cigarettes as well as the van that is registered to an auto sales dealer located on Pitt Street in Cornwall, Ontario. The driver, an 18 year old male resident of Andrew Johnson Road in Hogansburg, New York, was arrested by the RCMP and will be charged under Section 32(1) of the Excise Act 2001 for possession of a tobacco product that was not properly stamped according to the Excise Act 2001. He was also issued tickets by the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service for several Highway Traffic offences including driving with no licence, using plates not authorized for the vehicle, no insurance and driving a vehicle with no validated permit. The driver was released to appear at the Cornwall Court on August 13th, 2007. The total amount of cigarettes seized from these two vans is 1,030,000 that were manufactured in the United States and smuggled into Canada worth $113,300.
One of the main reasons we are seeing more seizures is because law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border and within Canada are partnering more. We have better integrated intelligence and more integrated operations. In Cornwall, for example, we are part of an integrated criminal intelligence section that involves partners from Akwesasne, Canada and the United States working together, pooling their information and jointly selecting targets.
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Sgt. Michael Harvey
Central St. Lawrence Valley RCMP Detachment
(613) 937-2831
Chief of Police Lewis Mitchell
Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service
(613) 575-2340