July 6, 2024, Montreal, Que. – The Montreal Police Department (SPVM) has dismantled a major hookah tobacco smuggling network following a months-long investigation that ended on June 26. More than 9,300 kg of this material was seized, representing an estimated market value of nearly $4.2 million.
The investigation led by the SPVM’s ACCES Tabac unit, in close collaboration with neighbourhood police stations and the Laval Police Department, also led to the seizure of 3,650 cartons of contraband cigarettes, 35 vehicles and $158,000 in cash.
In total, 85 searches were conducted, many of them inside businesses, residences, and vehicles in the boroughs of Saint-Laurent, Ahuntsic–Cartierville, Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, and Montréal-Nord, as well as in Laval. Investigators also targeted warehouses in the Toronto region.
A total of 69 suspects aged 19 to 79 were arrested under the Tobacco Tax Act. The file from this investigation, which began in the fall of 2023, has been submitted to Revenu Québec prosecutors so that charges can be laid.
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