[IPSM] RCMP goes on Media Offensive Against "Native-Made Cigarettes"

[Mike Krebs]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060321/cigarette_smuggling_060321/20060321?hub/=Canada



Contraband native cigarettes a growing problem

Updated Tue. Mar. 21 2006 11:30 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Dramatic video of the RCMP chasing smugglers on the St. Lawrence River is
underscoring the growing problem of native-made contraband cigarettes.

The area on the Quebec-Ontario border is known as smuggler's alley and lives
up to its name every night, authorities say.

During a recent routine ride-along in the middle of the night, a Quebec
television crew got a first-hand look at how the Mounties work.

When officers caught a speed boat in their searchlights, they gave chase and
moved in, but the smugglers hurled their illicit cargo overboard.

At one point, they started throwing the cigarette cartons at police.

It's clear, one RCMP investigator said after examining the goods, that the
native-made cigarettes are contraband because there are no stickers showing
any tax was paid.

"We used to see the brand-name cigarettes and now we see it more with the
native cigarettes," said the RCMP's Cpl. Sylvain L'Heureux.

Native cigarette makers were granted a licence to sell their products to
natives tax-free, for about half the market price.

"The problem arises when they start selling those cigarettes that don't have
duties paid on them, sold to non-natives," L'Heureux said.

Police believe some 2,000 cartons of native-made illegal cigarettes are
transported every weekend through Akwesasne, which borders Ontario and
Quebec.

In 2003, native reserves in Quebec had two licensed cigarette manufacturers.
By 2005, there were 16 producers.

Meanwhile in Manitoba, sales have risen tenfold in the past couple of years.

The province wants to limit how much tax-free tobacco can be sold to status
Indians at five cartons per person per month -- or just about a pack a day.

Revenue Canada also wants to inspect the cigarette manufacturers, but it's
clear in Kahnawake, on Montreal's south shore, that locals want the
government to butt out.

"We certainly don't encourage that because you're setting yourself up for
possible confrontations ... and we don't need that," said Joe Delaronde, of
the Kahnawake Band Council.

With a report from CTV's Annie deMelt and Jed Kahane





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