Criminal organizations in Canada making ‘billions’ in illegal cigarettes: Kelowna speaker

Rising tobacco prices may be pushing smokers to delve into the black market, but there’s a higher social cost to be mindful of, the executive director of the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco said at a stop in Kelowna, B.C., Wednesday.

“Very, very rarely do we ever see a search warrant done by any police service across the country in their communities where they’re just solely finding contraband tobacco,” Rick Barnum, who was speaking Wednesday at a  Crime Stoppers event about the harms to communities caused by contraband tobacco

“They’re finding guns, cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl — all those killers exist along with contraband tobacco.”

Tobacco sales, however, may be the greatest economic generator for the estimated 175 criminal organizations known to be shilling the product.

1:59 Illegal cigarette sales hurting B.C. convenience stores

Barnum said sales exceed $2 billion in Canada and there’s little risk to those who are engaging in the crime. A carton of cigarettes in B.C. is typically priced at around $180, or $18 a pack, but a carton sold on the black market can be purchased for around $45.  The seller is probably buying cartons for around $20 apiece, Barnum said.

“They’re involved to make huge profits, and they’re involved because there is little risk for their involvement,” Barnum said, adding that the penalty for selling contraband tobacco is relatively light when compared with drug crimes.

He’s calling for the response to the crime to rise in tandem with the threat to the community.

“I would suggest it’s time to relook at those sentences (created 10 to 15 years ago),” he said.

“It’s time for some decision makers that have the authority to start making appropriate sentences for the damage that’s occurring.”

In Quebec, he said, changes are being made but it’s less the case in other parts of the country.

“Quebec has managed to drop the involvement of organized crime and contraband tobacco sales by over 50 per cent since 2012,” he said.

“There they have a team that’s solely invested into investigating contraband tobacco sales and the groups that are doing it, and they’ve had huge successes,” he said.

“The team returns millions of dollars of money every year to the provincial government that can be reinvested into other things, as well as they’re not losing the money in the front end. ”

B.C., however, is not there yet and the problem is on the rise in Kelowna.

Kelowna RCMP say they’re also seeing a rise in the sale of contraband tobacco, specifically cigarettes.

“There has been an increase in illegal cigarette seizures,” Kelowna RCMP said.

“The Kelowna RCMP has been engaged with partners across the country to combat the sale of illegal cigarettes and encourage the public to report any information.”