Thirty-three hundred resealable bags of contraband tobacco (or 660,000 cigarettes), 789 kilograms of fine-cut tobacco, two vehicles seized and four people arrested sums up the week in smuggling busts for the local RCMP.
The busts started on Monday when the RCMP was contacted by Cornwall police after locating cardboard boxes of contraband cigarettes in a garage on Gloucester Street North. The Cornwall RCMP seized 950 resealable bags of contraband cigarettes. No arrests were made and the investigation continues.
The next day an OPP officer stopped a 2000 GMC 2500 van on Highway 401 eastbound in South Glengarry to find it was transporting garbage bags of fine-cut tobacco.
RCMP officers arrived to seize 31 garbage bags containing 789 kilograms of fine-cut tobacco.
The 25-year-old male driver from Cornwall was arrested and faces a charge of possession of a tobacco product not properly stamped under the Excise Act 2001.
On Wednesday RCMP officers saw a 1998 Ford F-150 pickup truck turning off the road near the St. Lawrence River in Cornwall. They stopped the vehicle on Sixth Street.
While talking to the occupants of the truck, officers detected a strong smell of tobacco.
The driver admitted he was transporting contraband tobacco when questioned by police.
"There is still an increase in smuggling activity in the City of Cornwall in areas located near the St. Lawrence River," said Sgt. Michael Harvey of the RCMP.
"The public should be vigilant when walking or travelling in those areas and when you observe suspicious activity please do not hesitate to contact local law enforcement."
The RCMP seized 2,350 resealable bags of contraband cigarettes, as well as the truck.
The driver, Wayne Husbands, a 46-year-old man from Cornwall, was arrested and charged for possession of a tobacco product not properly stamped under the Excise Act 2001.
He was held for a bail hearing. Also arrested and facing a charge for
possession of a tobacco product not properly stamped was a 27-year-old woman from Akwesasne, Ont. and a 34-year-old man from Cornwall.
He also faces a charge for breaching a probation order.