It hasn't taken long for the newly-reformed Cornwall Regional Task Force (CRTF) to get down to the work of disrupting with smuggling networks.
On Wednesday night, just hours after the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police, Cornwall Community Police Service and the Ontario Ministry of Revenue announced the rebirth of the anti-smuggling unit, the CRTF had made its first bust.
Officers observed people offloading cardboard boxes of contraband cigarettes from several boats into three vans that were parked on a laneway near the shores of the St. Lawrence River in South Glengarry.
The suspects fled but the CRTF officers seized 8,500 resealable bags of contraband cigarettes from the vehicles, two of which were registered to an Ottawa-area rental company and the other to a resident from Orleans. No arrests have been made.
"Officers will continue to identify, target, investigate, disrupt and dismantle organizations and the criminal elements that are having an impact on our region", said Sgt. Michael Harvey of the Cornwall Regional Task Force.
Last Thursday, a 2005 Pontiac G6 was intercepted by the OPP on Highway 401 eastbound also in South Glengarry. The officer approached the driver and observed a dark blanket covering a cardboard box of contraband cigarettes on the front passenger seat. Officers seized 800 resealable bags of contraband cigarettes. A 32-year-old male driver was arrested and faces a charge for possession of a tobacco product not properly stamped under authority of the Excise Act 2001. He was released to appear at court on a later date.