Prison sentences, $2.1 million in fines for contraband tobacco traffickers

MONTREAL -- Eleven people guilty of trafficking in contraband tobacco have been hit with some $2.1 million in fines, with two of them sentenced to prison time, Revenu Quebec announced Monday.

Revenu Quebec says the 11 are all guilty of having sold, delivered, transported or possessed tobacco products destined for the Quebec market that were not properly labelled and registered as conforming to Quebec's law on taxation of tobacco products. The 11 are also not registered with Revenu Quebec and do not possess the necessary permits to trade in tobacco products, the agency says.

• Serge Rolland of Drummondville was fined $1 million after his home, two vehicles and two garages were raided, which yielded 27,000 contraband cigarettes as well as evidence that Rolland had sold more than 7.28 million contraband cigarettes over a two-year period. Rolland was sentenced to 45 days in prison and his two vehicles were seized.
• Marc Simard of Chicoutimi, a recidivist trafficker, was fined $174,000 and sentenced to nine months in prison after a seizure of two of his vehicles yielded 112,800 contraband cigarettes. Simard's two vehicles were also seized.
• Jordan Michael Calpin of Eel River Bar, New Brunswick and Normand Jay Sylliboy of Eskasoni, Nova Scotia, were each fined $155,040 after a police raid in Saint-Constant yielded 240,000 contraband cigarettes. Sylliboy's driver's license was also suspended for 30 days.
• Alexandre Paris of Saint-Alphonse-de- Rodriguez was fined $70,000 and Mathieu Regimbald Hudon of Montréal was fined $281,431 following raids by the Surete du Quebec that yielded 1,888 kg of contraband tobacco found in a vehicle in Riviere-Beaudette. The vehicle was seized, and Paris's driver's license suspended for eight days.
• Maxime Yannonie Desforges of Lachine was fined $68,229.34 after the SQ seized 915 kg of contraband tobacco from a vehicle in Saint-Anicet.
• Jérémie Couture-Kucbel of Valleyfield was fined $75,000 after RCMP and SQ officers seized 2,200 kg of contraband tobacco from a vehicle in Saint-Zotique.
• Xavier Tremblay Vors of Repentigny was fined $60,000 after RCMP and SQ officers seized 795 kg of contraband tobacco from a truck in Saint-Zotique.
• Sean Poirier Leclerc of Valleyfield was fined $50,000 after police in Chateauguay, south of Montreal, seized 731 kg of contraband tobacco. Poirier-Leclerc's vehicle was seized and his license suspended for 14 days.
• Roland Aubin of Plessisville was fined $50,951 after the SQ seized 51,800 contraband cigarettes from a vehicle in Saint-Julie. Aubin's vehicle was seized and his license suspended for six months.

Revenu Québec is reminding the public that those found of guilty of unauthorized sale of tobacco products in Quebec face a maximum prison sentence of two years and a minimum fine of $6,000. People who buy illegal tobacco products face a minimum fine of $350. Contraband tobacco that is seized by authorities is subsequently destroyed.