 It was reported tobacco was bought at about $3 a pound, sold to the processing plants for $10 a pound and then sold for $15 to $20 for 200 cigarette bundles. | Phil Caprice Howard, 55, was busted in the US in 2019. He admitted guilt last fall in a tobacco export scheme that lasted 9 years and cost Canadians hundreds of millions in unpaid taxes. Howard used middlemen who bought raw leaf from wholesale suppliers. |  Local smugglers transferred it across the St Lawrence. Hells Angels then transported the product to cigarette factories on the Kahnawake Mohawk Reserve. |
| The prosecution claimed losses of C$600m in federal and provincial taxes in Canada, caused by the 225 deliveries of tobacco. Prosecutors pointed out that organized crime groups are involved in the trade, not just the Mohawk. Globally, tobacco smuggling is huge. 338m smuggled cigarettes were seized at the port of Piraeus, Greece last week. The cigarettes represent 72m euros in lost duties and taxes. The 35 shipping containers labelled “food items” originated from Dubai. Counterfeit cigarettes are a low risk, high reward crime. |
See ----->1 in 3 Cigarettes Sold in Ontario are Contraband
