OPP Seizes 16,000 Pounds of Illegal Tobacco at RIDE Check

Source from:  recorder.ca By STAFF 06/16/2008

OPP officers made one of this region's largest-ever seizures of contraband tobacco early Friday morning. Officers were conducting a RIDE spot check at the intersection of county roads 31 and 18 just north of Morrisburg around 2 a.m. when they seized 16,000 pounds of untaxed tobacco inside a five-tonne truck. "It was up there," said Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry OPP Constable Pete Robertson when asked where the seizure ranks with others in the past. Robertson said the fine-cut tobacco was being transported inside clear bags. The 50-year-old man driving the truck has been charged with possession of untaxed tobacco and is to appear in Morrisburg court Sept. 22. His name was not released. Police across eastern Ontario have made dozens of tobacco seizures along the Highway 401 corridor in the past year. Despite those arrests, the smuggling continues and Robertson said that's why OPP will continue to be on the lookout. "It's an ongoing problem and if people think that they are going to have an easy way to make money and roll the dice ... that's what they are going to do," said Robertson. Enditem