Two Halifax-area men charged after officials seize 85,000 contraband cigarettes
A month-long investigation into the illegal cigarette trade has resulted in charges for two men from the Halifax-area.
A number of organizations were involved in the operation that ended with a vehicle being stopped near Amherst, shortly after it entered the province.
Officials say they searched the vehicle and discovered 85,000 contraband cigarettes inside.
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The combined federal and provincial tax value of the seizure is in excess of $41,000.
The director of audit and enforcement with Service Nova Scotia Bernie Meagher said there has been a steady decline in the number of illegal cigarettes coming into the province over the last decade.
“If you go back 10 or 11 years ago, about 30 per cent of the tobacco in Nova Scotia was smuggled, now less than 10 per cent of the market is smuggled,” he said.
Meagher explained most of the illegal or “baggie” cigarettes that enter the province come from manufacturers on reserves in Quebec, Ontario, and in upstate New York.
The men are scheduled to appear in Amherst Provincial Court in April.
