Three residents of the Haut Saint-Laurent were each fined $81,000 by Revenue Quebec, after being found guilty of violations in connection with illegal tobacco.
Marc-André Leblanc, from Sainte-Agnès-de-Dundee, Sébastien Picard, from Saint-Anicet and Mathieu Sutherland from Godmanchester will have 24 months in which to pay these fines.
Their sentence, pronounced by Patricia Compagnone, justice of the peace, follows on an operation carried out on September 21, 2011 by the RCMP and officers with the Division des enquêtes de contrebande from the Sûreté du Québec.
At that time, the police caught the individuals in the process of moving unstamped tobacco products from a boat to a vehicle on the riverbank of a property on 40th Avenue in Sainte-Barbe. The police then seized 820,000 illegal cigarettes. The court ordered that the tobacco be confiscated and destroyed.
Revenue Quebec states that smuggling tobacco could result in a minimum fine of $6000 and a maximum prison sentence of up to two years. Anyone purchasing illegal tobacco for personal consumption could also receive a minimum fine of $350.
Translated by Cathleen Johnston
