Officers from the Laval Police Dept. took part in an interprovincial operation last week in which more than 13,300 kilos of contraband tobacco smoked in Middle Eastern “shisha” pipes, with an estimated value of nearly $5.8 million, was seized in Quebec and Ontario.
The operation, led by the Sûreté du Québec, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Montreal Police, with assistance from the Canada Border Services Agency, initially targeted a contraband tobacco dealer doing business in Laval and Montreal, but ended up leading to an importer based in Toronto, according to information issued by the police.
In all, eight search warrants were executed on June 14 at warehouses in cities that included Laval and Saint-Eustache in Quebec, as well as Burlington, Mississauga and Scarborough in Ontario.
As well, two residences were searched and several vehicles were seized during the raids.
The suspects were identified by the police as a Quebec man, age 45, and two Ontarians who are 44 and 43 years old respectively, although their names were not immediately released.
