The Contraband Pipeline: How Illegal Tobacco Fuels Crime in NL

The sale of contraband tobacco in Newfoundland and Labrador is a lucrative business for organized crime.

It’s being trucked into the province primarily from Ontario and southwestern Quebec, and is part of much larger trafficking operations that also involve drugs, firearms and even sex trafficking.

The executive director of the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco and former Deputy Commissioner with the Ontario Provincial Police, Rick Barnum, says the sale of unstamped tobacco in Canada is a billion dollar business for organized crime – and Newfoundland and Labrador represents a big part of that profit.

He says usage rates in this province are high.

“Forty per cent of your market there of individual smokers are smoking contraband cigarettes,” says Barnum. “It’s a huge market.”