Highway patrol seizes millions of illegal cigarettes, cigars

Highway patrol officers in Saskatchewan seized 6.6 million illegal cigarettes and 28,800 illegal cigars during a traffic stop last month.

According to police, a highway patrol officer stopped a commercial vehicle with a trailer in Whitewood on Dec. 20. The officer became suspicious while inspecting the vehicle, police said, and conducted a search that led to the discovery of the illegal smokes.

The driver — a 64-year-old Edmonton man — was arrested and the truck and cargo were seized, police said. He’s now facing a number of charges, including possession of unstamped tobacco for the purpose of sale, possession of the proceeds of crime, and additional charges under the Excise and Tobacco Tax Acts.

According to Staff Sgt. Chad McLeod of Combined Traffic Service Saskatchewan, the cigarettes were coming from Ontario and were headed to Alberta when the shipment was intercepted.

“The keen observations of the officer in this investigation resulted in a significant quantity of unstamped tobacco being removed from our highways,” McLeod said in a statement.