July 12, 2007
(Les Cèdres, Quebec) On July 3rd , 2007, a highway patrol officer from the Quebec Provincial Police observed an abandoned camper with a flat tire on the side of Highway 20 near the exit for Les Cèdres, Quebec. Officers from the Central St. Lawrence Valley RCMP detachment- Valleyfield office were contacted to attend the scene. No occupants or vehicles were located near the camper. The licence plate on the camper had been recently reported stolen. A search was conducted inside the camper and officers located 5,000 re-sealable bags of full flavour cigarettes. This represents 1,000,000 cigarettes that were manufactured in the United States and smuggled into Canada worth $110,000. The camper had been modified to ensure that a maximum number of contraband cigarettes could be transported. No charges will be laid in this investigation.
Over the past decade, the illicit tobacco trade has evolved and criminals are making profits from several modes not as common in the 1990’s. Again, in the 1990’s, the vast majority of contraband tobacco products were domestically manufactured, exported and then smuggled back into Canada. In the mid 1990’s they were illegally diverted provincially. Today, the illicit tobacco trade is primarily comprised of illegally produced cigarettes/tobacco manufactured in the United States then smuggled into Canada, illegally produced cigarettes/tobacco manufactured in Canada, counterfeit tobacco products involving domestic and foreign brands making their way into the country via sea containers and illegal sales via the internet.
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Sgt. Michael Harvey
Central St. Lawrence Valley RCMP Detachment
613-937-2831