Nearly 15,000 illegal cigarettes found during traffic stop; Mississauga man charged
Published October 16, 2024 at 12:42 pm
A Mississauga man faces charges after police found nearly 15,000 illegal cigarettes during a traffic stop in a small town north of the Greater Toronto Area last Thursday.
Ontario Provincial Police said 72 cartons (14,881 cigarettes) of “unmarked cigarettes” were discovered during the search of a vehicle that had been pulled over during a RIDE spotcheck on Victoria Street in Shelburne at around 12:30 p.m. Shelburne is located about 25 kilometres north of Orangeville.
Police said in a news release on Wednesday that RIDE officers who pulled over the vehicle conducted a subsequent search of the car.
A 39-year-old man from Mississauga is charged with possessing unmarked cigarettes for sale and possessing unmarked cigarettes. He’ll appear in Orangeville court on a date yet to be determined to answer to the charges.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.
Any packs or cartons of cigarettes that do not contain the Ontario government yellow stamp are deemed, with certain exceptions, to be illegal.
In addition, cigarettes sold in clear plastic bags are also illegal as is engaging in the tobacco business without the required permits, the provincial governments says.