Provincial police said Wednesday that a motorist’s complaint about a speeding tractor-trailer on Highway 401 led officers to the seizure of contraband tobacco estimated to be worth millions of dollars.
Shortly after 7 a.m. on Tuesday, OPP officers with the Frontenac detachment stopped the tractor-trailer near Joyceville Road in Kingston.
The vehicle was escorted to the Ministry of Transportation scales at Gananoque for a safety inspection. Documentation and other issues led to an inspection of the cargo.
OPP and MTO officers found the trailer was filled with more than 17,820 kilograms of contraband tobacco, estimated to be worth about $4.4 million.
Authorities said that equates to a total federal and provincial tax loss of approximately $9.1 million, if the product was packaged as cigarettes and resold.
Joga Singh Dhillon, 60, of Puslinch Township, near Cambridge, has been charged with trafficking contraband tobacco.
The accused was released from custody and is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Kingston on Sept. 2, 2025.
The investigation by the OPP and the Ministry of Transportation is continuing, police said in a release.
