RCMP say they've dealt a major blow to cigarette smugglers with two seizures near the Ontario-Quebec border this week.
On Friday, the Mounties and Quebec provincial police arrested four people near Riviere-Beaudette, Que., and seized 600,000 cigarettes in Ziploc bags.
Police nabbed three other people on Thursday along the shores of Lake St-François and seized $1.2 million worth of illegal cigarettes.
Police said they aren't sure where the cigarettes come from, but both communities are along the St. Lawrence River with waterways that lead into both Ontario and New York.
Since the beginning of 2010, the RCMP have arrested 99 people for smuggling and seized 39 million cigarettes in the process.
The federal government announced initiatives last month to combat illegal cigarettes, including the formation of a specialized police unit led by the RCMP. The unit is to start operating by later next year.