On July 17, 2024, a Saskatchewan Highway Patrol (SHP) weigh station officer conducted an inspection of a semi and trailer on Highway #1 near Swift Current.
The officer determined the semi's bill of lading was false. As a result of subsequent investigation, officers located approximately 30 pallets of unstamped tobacco in the trailer. The driver of the truck was arrested.
The officers contacted Saskatchewan RCMP for assistance. Saskatchewan RCMP's Saskatchewan Trafficking Response Team (STRT) took carriage of the investigation, with the assistance of the Swift Current Rural RCMP detachment.
STRT determined the truck was carrying about 8.75 million unstamped cigarettes, and was travelling from Ontario to BC. SHP indicates that this is the largest tobacco seizure in their history.
As a result of continued investigation, 25-year-old Vishavpreet Singh from Calgary is charged with:
- one count, sell, offer for sale, transport, deliver, distribute, or have in his possession for the purpose of sale a tobacco product, or a raw leaf tobacco that is unstamped, Section 121.1(1), Criminal Code;
- one count, sell, offer for sale of have in his possession a tobacco product unstamped, Section 32(1) Excise Act; and
- one count, possess, store, transport or sell tobacco that is not marked in a prescribed manner, Section 11(8), Saskatchewan Tobacco Tax Act.
He is scheduled to appear in Swift Current Provincial Court on August 14, 2024.
"STRT's mandate is to stop inter-provincial trafficking – both human trafficking and that of controlled substances and firearms," said Supt. Glenn Church from Saskatchewan RCMP's Saskatchewan Enforcement Response Team. "We're grateful for our partnership with the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol, which resulted in millions of illegal cigarettes from entering Canadian communities."
"The great work of the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol's weigh scale officers continues to keep our roads safe, protect our infrastructure and remove illicit goods from the market," Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Paul Merriman said. "Thanks to an attentive officer and our partnership with the RCMP, we were once again able to prevent organized crime from profiting from illegal activity."