CORNWALL, Ontario – Would-be smugglers found themselves on the wrong side of the Cornwall Regional Task Force (CRTF) this summer.
CRTF officers netted 35 garbage bags of fine cut tobacco, weighing a total of 471 kilograms, at the Waste Water Treatment plant in Cornwall during the early morning hours of July 12.
Micheal Durocher, 29, was apprehended at the scene. He was arrested, and escorted to the Cornwall RCMP detachment where he was processed and later released from custody on a Promise to Appear.
A 2006 Chevrolet Uplander used during the incident and the contraband were seized.
During lunch hour on June 27, the task force received a tip about a shady transaction between two men ashore and another on a boat at a South Glengarry waterfront restaurant.
A package was observed being placed into the trunk of a late model Hyundai Elantra.
The duo finished their meals and drove off. The task force stopped the vehicle, and officers found $34,000 in US currency inside a tote bag in the vehicle’s trunk.
Both males, from the Laval, Quebec area, were arrested, transported to the Cornwall RCMP detachment for processing and released unconditionally.
No charges have been laid. An investigation continues.
During the early morning hours of June 13, CRTF members received information, via the OPP, that a load of contraband cigarettes had been dropped off at a particular avenue in the Bainsville, Ontario area.
CRTF officers seized 20 cases of flavoured (cherry, peach, vanilla, strawberry and grape) cigars on a dock at the shore.
On June 5, Akwesasne resident Kierian Jacobs, 18, was arrested at Cornwall’s Port of Entry (POE) during a dmoestic contraband seizure. She was reportedly found with eight garbage bags containing approximately 105 kilograms of fine cut tobacco.
Jacobs was processed and later released from custody on a Promise to Appear.
Her vehicle, a 2014 Chrysler 300, along with the contraband was seized.
After dusk on May 25, 60 garbage bags of fine cut tobacco, weighing a total of approximately 800 kilograms, and a 1999 Quebec plated white Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck were seized in the South Glengarry area.