Puslinch man charged after trailer with $4M of contraband tobacco pulled over by OPP

Contraband tobacco seized by Ontario Provincial Police. (Source: OPP)

Ontario Provincial Police say $4.4 million in contraband tobacco has been seized after someone made a complaint about a speeding tractor trailer on Highway 401.

Officers were told the truck was travelling in the eastbound lanes, near Belleville, around 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Members of the Frontenac detachment caught up to the driver at Joyceville Road, east of Kingston, a short time later.

The truck was then escorted to the Ministry of Transportation at Gananoque for a safety inspection.

OPP said documentation and other issues led to a full search of the truck’s cargo.

Inside, officers found 17,820 kilograms of fine-cut tobacco, estimated to be worth $4.4 million.

“That equates to a total federal and provincial tax loss of approximately $9.1 million,” OPP said in a media release.

Joga Singh Dhillon, a 60-year-old from Puslinch Township, has been charged with trafficking contraband tobacco.