From: CBC News
Individuals fined up to $271,600, to be paid back within two years
By Kate McKenna, CBC News
Revenu Québec has fined 12 people a total of $2,258,618 for selling contraband cigarettes.
Those fined – including four people from the Kahnawake Mohawk territory on Montreal’s South Shore – are accused of selling, delivering or possessing illegal tobacco for retail sale in Quebec.
Revenu Québec says none of them were registered to sell tobacco with the agency.
A spokesman for the Kahnawake Mohawk Council says the council couldn’t comment on the specific individuals facing fines.
However, Joe Delaronde said the council is working towards resolving the community’s differences over tobacco sales with the Quebec ministry.
There are dozens of cigarette sales shops both in Kahnawake and its sister communities of Kanesatake, northwest of Montreal, and Akwesasne, which straddles the U.S.-Canada border near Cornwall, Ont.
Cracking down at the border
Meanwhile, the spokesman for a task force charged with clamping down on cross-border tobacco smuggling said there is a steady stream of contraband tobacco products still being moved across the border.
