Roadside bust nets nearly 2 million illegal cigarettes
More than 1.7 million contraband cigarettes have been seized from a rental truck near the Manitoba-Ontario border.
Officials from RCMP traffic services and Manitoba Finance's special investigations unit found 150 cases of illegal, unmarked cigarettes in plastic bags, along with 25 cases of "discount" brand cigarettes, in the truck near the West Hawk Lake area.
The bust took place May 13 on the Trans-Canada Highway during a traffic safety check associated with National Road Safety Week, an RCMP enforcement initiative designed to increase public compliance with safe driving measures.
The driver, a 45-year-old man from St. Constant, Que., faces charges under the Excise Act (2001) and the Manitoba Tobacco Tax Act. People convicted under the Tobacco Tax Act can face fines up to $5,000, imprisonment for up to three months or both. In this matter, a tax penalty of $971,250 could also be assessed.
The truck contained a total of 1,750,000 cigarettes, none of which had proper tax stamps for Manitoba or Canada, according to a Manitoba government news release. The street value of the cigarettes in Winnipeg was estimated at $395,000. Manitoba's taxes would have been $323,750.
Officers from the Falcon Beach RCMP detachment also took part in the seizure, the government release stated.
On Friday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) seized 1.75 million contraband cigarettes near the Manitoba - Ontario border and in a separate case the New York City Police Department (NYPD) also had a major recovery of 1.17 million cigarettes.
Cigarettes 

Canadian officers seized 150 cases of illegal, unmarked cigarettes, as well as 25 cases of "discount" brand cigarettes during a traffic safety check conducted during National Road Safety Week on the Trans Canada Highway.  

The NYPD pulled over a U-Haul truck for a traffic violation, a covered license plate and recovered 58,500 packs of untaxed contraband cigarettes.

"It's an ongoing problem as the price of cigarettes go up. Obviously, it increases the motivation to go to other states to buy them and bring them back here. We enforce the law in that regard," said a NYPD Police Commissioner.

"Discount brands of cigarettes ... come from countries such as, not only the United States, but India, Native American tribes, the Philippines, Colombia, Mexico and other countries around the globe," said a representative from the American State Auditor’s Office.

Bootleggers, nicknamed the $5 man, are the new entrepreneurs when taxed cigarettes sell for over US$10 a pack and nearly $100 a carton in some places in the U.S.

Customers satisfying a nicotine addiction provide a hefty income for illegal tobacco traders. The illicit smuggling of tobacco results in thousands of dollars in lost tax revenue to governments. In Manitoba's bust, it's estimated that nearly CA$325,000 (US$275,000)are lost in tax revenue from illegal cigarette sales.

On Wednesday, 90,000 contraband cigarettes were seized from Lithuanian travellers at the Dublin Ireland airport. On Monday, in a separate case, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) seized unmarked cigarettes from a Manitoba man for the second time. This time police recovered 160,000 cigarettes. One week ago smugglers hid 3,000 cases of illegal cigarettes in concrete to try to get them through customs in Singapore.

In April American officials shut down a warehouse containing about US20 million dollars in illegal cigarettes.