CORNWALL – Smugglers are not only using the St. Lawrence River shoreline for their operations – they’re also using nearby property.
Local RCMP say they stopped a smuggling operation using the parking lot of the Children’s Aid Society building on Boundary Road earlier this month (Feb. 4).
Authorities had followed a trio of snowmobiles that had their lights off, heading across the St. Lawrence River to the east end of Cornwall before they made it to the CAS building.
Two of sleds took off when officers moved in but police were able to catch the third snowmobile with an attached tub and a pickup truck.
A total of 42 bags of unstamped tobacco weighing about 563 kilograms (1,241 pounds) was seized.
A 24-year-old Akwesasne man has been charged under the Excise Act.
The seizure was part of back-to-back operations which netted 1.9 metric tons (4,188 pounds) of tobacco in less than a week.