A 47-year-old man from Laval is one of nine people from various areas of Quebec who were recently found guilty of tax evasion after they sold tobacco products clandestinely while failing to pay around $1.7 million in taxes owed to the provincial government.
Ahamed Kamel Awada, 47, was sentenced to seven months in prison and fined a total of $521,525 for trafficking “significant quantities of unstamped tobacco” through his business, according to a statement issued by Revenu Québec.
In June 2022, an initial search jad resulted in the seizure of 90 kg of tobacco.
Two months later, 11 search warrants led to the seizure of an additional 1,500 kg of contraband tobacco.
Two co-defendants, Kamel Mahmoud Awada, 66, and Chawki El Chami, 61, were sentenced to 30 and 90 days in prison respectively, as well as fines of $40,585 and $89,870.
