90 per cent of illegal cigarettes made in Akwesasne: RCMP

The RCMP say they are cracking down on a booming cigarette industry based on the aboriginal reserve spanning the St.

[Canada]

as 10 hrs ago | www.thestar.com | Posted by Canada

Canada airport Tasering Details Stripped from RCMP report about Robert aka Occurrence No. 2007-34748

"The RCMP call it Occurrence No. 2007-34748.

Millions of people around the world know it as the infamous Taser zapping of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport last October that sparked so many questions about ...

The Mounties have stripped any new answers from a heavily censored report on the

high-profile stun gun incident,

obtained by The Canadian Press and CBC under the Access to Information Act.

http://www.topix.net/world/canada/2008/05/det...

Related Topix: North America, World News

[joan]

"The Canadian people think that they're saving tax dollars by buying these illicit tobacco, but in fact, they're financing organized crime groups that are using the geography of our border to move illegal products back and forth and then to financially gain from the sale of this illicit project," Harvey said. "It is a public safety issue."

On Thursday, the RCMP invited CBC News to the Cornwall dump to watch as they crushed and buried $400,000 worth of cigarillos, cartons of cigarettes, and garbage bags of fine-cut tobacco.

Harvey said about 105 organized crime groups are involved in manufacturing the cigarettes, and many use the proceeds from illegal tobacco to fund other activities. Right now, police are trying to target the groups' leaders, but they can't ignore the loads of cigarettes that cross the St. Lawrence River by the boatload, he said.