A 30-year-old Cornwall man faces charges for possession of 250,000 contraband cigarettes. The RCMP charged the man under the Excise Act 2001 for possession of a tobacco product not properly stamped following a vehicle stop by the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service Joint Investigative Team.
Officers observed a van travelling in an unsafe manner in Akwesasne and seat head rests sitting on top of cardboard boxes. The driver to a commercial parking lot located on Brookdale Avenue in Cornwall. Cornwall RCMP officers then assisted in stopping the van and seized 1,250 resealable bags of cigarettes believed to have been manufactured in the United States. The van was also seized.
The driver was later released and is scheduled to appear in Cornwall court on Oct. 31.