CORNWALL — A smuggler made a daring escape from police by jumping into the chilly waters of the St. Lawrence after being spotted loading contraband cigarettes into a vehicle on Monday night.
Around 9:15 p.m., officers observed a man loading materials into a van near the city sewage treatment plant pumping station on the south side of Montreal Road, east of Nav Canada.
Police seized 1,150 resealable bags of cigarettes along with the van, however the man escaped the scene by jumping into the river and swimming out to a boat, said RCMP Sgt. Michael Harvey.
"He did swim quite a ways out there," Harvey added.
Harvey said it's certainly rare to see a smuggler jump into the river — at nighttime in March to boot — in order to evade police, and for safety's sake, he's hoping it doesn't become a common occurrence.
Meanwhile, the practice of shipping illegal smokes by boat to waiting vehicles on Cornwall's waterfront continues to be a common problem for police, as evidenced by the latest press release from the RCMP.
In the last week alone, the Mounties — together with other law enforcement agencies in the area — arrested seven people and seized 10,150 resealable bags of contraband cigarettes and six vehicles, with all of the seizures occurring near the riverfront in the Cornwall and South Glengarry areas.
In one case early Tuesday morning around 3:45 a.m., officers noticed people unloading boxes of contraband cigarettes from three boats into three pick-up trucks near the river in South Glengarry. Police were able to stop two of the three trucks before they reached Highway 401, and they seized 2,750 resealable bags of contraband cigarettes along with the two vehicles.
One of the drivers, 21-year-old Sarah Boyer of Kahnawake, Que., was charged and held in custody. But rather than waiting for a bail hearing, Boyer's case went right to plea court where she plead guilty and received a fine of $42,500 along with two years probation and a condition to complete 200 hours of community service. Boyer was also ordered not to attend Cornwall Island during her two-year probation period.
The other driver, 46-year-old Gaetan Tremblay, also of Kahnawake, was charged and held in custody for a bail hearing.