(Staff) -- A 51-year-old male driver from Ohsweken, Ont., faces a charge under the Excise Act 2001 for possession of a tobacco product not properly stamped. The charge is a result of a traffic stop by the OPP near Cornwall.
On Thursday officers stopped a 2007 Chevrolet cube truck on Highway 401 that was travelling westbound for a commercial vehicle inspection. During the inspection officers observed cardboard boxes of contraband cigarettes. Cornwall RCMP officers attended the scene, arrested the driver of the truck and seized 6,200 re-sealable bags of contraband cigarettes, 1,000 cartons of Discount Tips Canadian Blend brand cigarettes, 101 cartons of Native All Natural brand cigarettes and 500 cartons of Canadian brand cigarettes.
The investigation revealed that the truck was rented from a rental agency in Brantford, Ont.
The RCMP officers also seized two 1.75-litre bottles of Port Royal West Indies Rum, one 1.75-litre bottle of Canadian Leaf Canadian Whiskey, and one 1.75 litre bottle of Odesse Distilled London Dry Gin believed to have been produced in the United States, as well as a small amount of a substance believed to be marijuana and hashish.
The driver was later released to appear in a Cornwall court on Jan. 29.
"We believe that the contraband cigarettes were manufactured in the United States as well as in Canada", said Sgt. Michael Harvey of the RCMP. "These cigarettes were picked up from an organization located on the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory in Quebec and destined for Six Nations near Brantford, where the criminal organizations will distribute them for illegal sale."