It's Mounties vs. tobacco runners along the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall. A lot more than cheap smokes may be at stake
Jump to full article: Toronto (Ont) Star (ca), 2009-11-14
Author: Richard J. Brennan Ottawa Bureau
Intro: "Because the smugglers are operating on the water with no lights, we've had a guy killed on a Sea-Doo when he hit a boat going north with cigarettes and he was coming south with marijuana. It's crazy," said Sgt. Michael Harvey, spokesman for the RCMP Cornwall detachment.
The water highway between Akwesasne Mohawk territory and Cornwall is the main source of cheap, illegal cigarettes entering Canada.
The cigarettes are turning up from coast to coast, in big cities and small towns alike. As much as 50 per cent of the smoke filling Canadian lungs comes from smuggled cigarettes, according to one study.
As smuggling goes, Akwesasne is in a unique position: the reserve is on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Its territory straddles not only Quebec and Ontario, but also New York state – where the cigarettes are produced.
From her perch overlooking the St. Lawrence River, motel manager Susan Denneny sees and hears the nightly water traffic.
She recalls watching early one August morning as a small armada of open boats unloaded cigarettes into several waiting vans.
"I'm not going to call the cops. I smoke them," says Denneny, who manages the Monte Carlo Motel located on Montreal Rd., which runs along the river.
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