Eight arrested in alleged B.C. tobacco smuggling plot

An investigation into large-scale tobacco smuggling to British Columbia has reached into Ontario, with the arrest of eight suspects accused of running a contraband ring that shipped more than half a million cartons of cigarettes from China to Canada, along with chemicals for the manufacturing of amphetamine and even counterfeit running shoes.
The suspects are alleged to be members of Asian organized crime, the RCMP said Tuesday in announcing their arrests.

The criminal network is accused of being behind two of the largest seizures of contraband cigarettes in B.C., with an estimated value of $8.3-million.

For two years, Canadian law-enforcement agents worked with police in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to crack down on the group of alleged Asian organized crime.

During that time, the RCMP said, federal agents intercepted 11 shipping containers, seven in Vancouver and four in Toronto, that the gang used to smuggle 583,600 cartons of cigarettes and six tonnes of Phenyl-2-Propanone (P2P), an oily liquid for the illicit production of amphetamines.