1.5 million cigarettes seized near Bathurst

Aseizure of 1.5 million cigarettes after a routine traffic stop near Bathurst is the latest incident in a flood of illegal cigarettes coming into New Brunswick, police say.

The RCMP arrested two men from Kahnawake, Que., after police found 1.5 million illegal cigarettes in the back of the cube van they were driving Friday night.

Cpl. J.C. Boudreau said the cigarettes were rolled and packaged but unmarked.

The cigarettes were destined for New Brunswick, Boudreau said,but he couldn't pinpoint the location.

"This is pretty significant. If it's not one of the largest, it's close to it. But we're recently seeing a huge rise in the [amount of illegal] tobacco coming into the province. There's a substantial loss of revenue there for the government.

"Most of it is coming from the Quebec and Ontario provinces."

Boudreau said people buying illegal cigarettes don't know what they're actually smoking.

"There have been some reports that these shops or manufacturers basically anything goes into these cigarettes. There's even reports that things swept from the floor [are] just thrown back into the places where they're packaging the cigarettes."