Two busts net 1.5 tons of tobacco

Garbage bags of fine cut contraband tobacco. (RCMP via Newswatch Group, File)

CORNWALL – The area’s contraband task force has seized over 1,500 kilograms (3,306 pounds) of tobacco in one week.

It follows two busts along the St. Lawrence River on Thursday (Aug. 4) and Sunday (Aug.7).

In the first operation, Cornwall Regional Task Force members arrested two people loading garbage bags into a minivan after following a boat from Lancaster to Riviere-Beaudette, Que.

Officers seized 693 kilograms (1,527 pounds) of fine cut tobacco.

The people on the boat got away though.

Then, a marked O.P.P. cruiser intercepted a Ford F-250 pickup truck, pulling a pontoon boat on a trailer, Sunday on County Road 2 as it left Whimpy’s Marina in Summerstown.

In that case, officers seized 400 clear plastic bags with 878 kilograms (1,935 pounds) of fine cut tobacco and a dozen bags with four kilograms (nine pounds) of cherry pipe tobacco.

The tobacco was “concealed within the pontoon boat,” police said.

Two suspects from Quebec – ages 55 and 23 – are facing Excise Act and Tobacco Tax Act charges.