Call for speeding truck leads Ontario police to $4.4M tobacco bust
OPP say a concerned citizen called police to report a truck barrelling eastbound up Highway 401 near Shannonville Road on Tuesday just before 7 a.m.
Get daily National news
Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
Officers soon tracked the big rig down near the Joyceville Road interchange in Kingston before several issues, including documentation, led them to escort the truck to the Ministry of Transportation scales in Gananoque for further inspection, according to provincial police.
Once they got into the trailer, police and MTO officers discovered 17,820 kilograms of contraband, fine-cut tobacco, which OPP pegged to be worth $4.4 million.
Police say the untaxed tobacco would also have added another $9.1 million to federal and provincial tax coffers.
Story continues below advertisement
A 60-year-old man from Puslinch, which borders on Cambridge, has been charged with trafficking contraband tobacco.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
3 minutes ago
- CTV News
OPP investigating home invasion in Sharbot Lake, Ont.
Ontario Provincial Police are seeking two suspects in connection with a reported home invasion in Sharbot Lake, Ont., north of Kingston. Police say officers responded to a home on Gordon Crescent at around 1 a.m. July 11, on reports that a man and a woman entered while armed with weapons, including a knife. The suspects took a PlayStation, musical instruments and cash, police said. No injuries were reported. They left in what police describe as a loud, silver or grey four-door car, which was last seen heading north on Gordon Crescent. The man is described as approximately 5-foot-9 (175 cm), with a thin build and short brown hair and a short beard. The woman is described as approximately 5-foot-4 (163 cm) and thin, with dark-brown or red hair. Police believe the incident was targeted. Anyone with information, or any potentially relevant doorbell, dashcam or surveillance video, should contact the Frontenac Detachment of the OPP at 1-888-310-1122 and refer to incident E250912926. If you have information but want to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or report online at
Global News
33 minutes ago
- Global News
Where is Natanis Merasty? Woman still missing as her vehicle tracked through 3 provinces
More than two months after a Saskatchewan woman was last seen in Edmonton, police now say her vehicle was tracked from the Prairies to the Pacific and back — but Natanis Merasty is nowhere to be found. 'Natanis is very soft-spoken. She's shy, she is loving, caring,' said her aunt and godmother Marcella Merasty at an Edmonton Police Service news conference on Friday 'We want her home. She is loved. She did not deserve this.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We want her home. She is loved. She did not deserve this." Where the 24-year-old is and whether she is alive remains a mystery. 'This missing person investigation stretches across three provinces. It speaks to the scale of work that's ongoing, and the complexity of this case,' said EPS major crimes detective Lisa Rio. Last month, police said Merasty was from La Ronge, Sask., but on Friday her family said she's from the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, which surrounds Prince Albert in northern Saskatchewan. Story continues below advertisement 'The most important thing is that we have a lot of hope that she's still alive, absolutely,' said her uncle, Victor Michel. 'We are hurt as a family, obviously, and we're just seeking the public's help. 'But mainly we are seeking our girl, and we want her home, and we have hope that she's still alive.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "But mainly we are seeking our girl, and we want her home, and we have hope that she's still alive." Merasty was in Edmonton 10 weeks ago to visit friends. Police said she came to the city with some other friends or acquaintances, but did not say who or how they knew Merasty. Natanis Merasty seen leaving the Continental Inn on 166 Street and Stony Plain Road in west Edmonton on May 5, 2025. Edmonton Police Serivce She was last seen overnight on May 5, when she left the Continental Inn on 166 Street and Stony Plain Road in the west end around 1:30 a.m. About an hour and a half later, she went into a 7-11 a few blocks away on 156 Street and 107 Avenue. Story continues below advertisement That's the last time Merasty was captured on surveillance camera video, Edmonton police said. View image in full screen Natanis Merasty spotted in a 7-11 on 156 Street and 107 Avenue in west Edmonton on May 5, 2025. Edmonton Police Serivce However, her vehicle continued to be spotted as it travelled through central Alberta and then west to Vancouver Island, and back again east into northern Saskatchewan. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy On May 9, Merasty was reported missing by her family to RCMP in Saskatchewan after they hadn't heard from her in four days. At the time, RCMP thought Merasty could be in Calgary or Leduc in Alberta, or Revelstoke in B.C. Edmonton police took over the investigation on May 22. Merasty drives a 2007 black Hyundai Tucson with Saskatchewan plates, which was found 10 days after she vanished back in Saskatchewan with a new, shoddy paint job. Story continues below advertisement 'It was silver, spray-painted, maybe,' said Rio. 'The timeframe — we know that on the 12th it was black. We know that on the 15th, it was silver. For me to say it was spray painted, it's just an assumption, but it didn't look an extremely clear and neat job.' View image in full screen Natanis Merasty, 24, is from La Ronge, Sask. but was in Edmonton on May 5, 2025. Edmonton Police Service She has long, brown hair, brown eyes and is described as having an average build. Police said she has multiple tattoos, including a cross on her forearm, a flower on the top of her right hand, and letters on her fingers. She was last seen wearing black clothing and white shoes. 'While we continue to work with our counterparts in each jurisdiction, we ask for the public's help,' Rio said. 'It is unlike Natanis to not be in contact with her family for long periods of time. So, we consider this disappearance suspicious.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It is unlike Natanis to not be in contact with her family for long periods of time. So, we consider this disappearance suspicious." Story continues below advertisement People go missing all the time, but Edmonton police said this case stands out. 'The longer time gaps and spans between our last point of communication with family or friends, with no contact, no sightings, no information — it becomes increasingly more suspicious and more concerning,' Rio said. Rio said police have spoken to a number of individuals and what she waid were people of interest, but no arrests have been made. Police are now releasing a timeline of when she was last spotted, along with where her vehicle has been seen in the weeks since in Alberta, B.C. and back in Saskatchewan. May 5, 2025 Natanis is captured on CCTV at the Continental Inn at 166 Street and Stony Plain Road in Edmonton She was observed driving away in her 2007 black, Hyundai Tucson at 1:22 a.m. Her vehicle returns to the hotel around 1:30 a.m. and leaves at 2:37 a.m. Natanis is captured on CCTV at the 7-Eleven on 156 Street and 107 Avenue and leaves at 2:55 a.m. Her vehicle travels through the Edmonton, Sherwood Park, Buck Lake, Nordegg and Lake Louise areas May 6, 2025 – The vehicle travels through British Columbia May 7, 2025 – The vehicle travels by ferry to Nanaimo, B.C. May 10, 2025 – The vehicle returns to the Edmonton area May 12, 2025 – The vehicle is observed west of Lloydminster May 15, 2025 – Natanis' vehicle is found abandoned and repainted on the James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Anyone with information about Natanis' whereabouts is asked to contact the EPS at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone. Story continues below advertisement Anonymous information can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.
Global News
33 minutes ago
- Global News
Venezuela releases 10 jailed Americans in prisoner swap deal with El Salvador
Venezuela released 10 jailed Americans on Friday in exchange for getting home scores of migrants deported by the United States to El Salvador months ago under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, officials said. The arrangement represents a diplomatic achievement for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, helps President Donald Trump in his goal of bringing home Americans jailed abroad and lands El Salvador a swap that its president had proposed months ago. 'Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement in which he thanked El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Bukele said his country had handed over all the Venezuelan nationals in its custody. The Venezuelan government said it had paid a 'steep price' by having to release the U.S. nationals but was pleased to have its own jailed citizens back. Story continues below advertisement Central to the deal are the more than 250 Venezuelan migrants being freed by El Salvador, which in March agreed to a $6 million payment from the Trump administration to house them in a notorious Salvadoran prison. The arrangement drew immediate blowback when Trump invoked an 18th century wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to quickly remove men his administration had accused of belonging to the violent Tren de Aragua street gang. The administration did not provide evidence to back those claims. 2:28 US-Venezuela prisoner swap: 10 Americans released in exchange for Maduro ally The Venezuelans have been held in a mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, which was built to hold alleged gang members in Bukele's war on the country's gangs. Human rights groups have documented hundreds of deaths and cases of torture inside its walls. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Among the Americans freed Friday was 37-year-old Lucas Hunter, whose family says he was kidnapped in January by Venezuelan border guards from inside Colombia, where he was vacationing. Story continues below advertisement 'We cannot wait to see him in person and help him recover from the ordeal,' said his younger sister Sophie Hunter. The release of the Venezuelans is an invaluable win for Maduro as he presses his efforts to assert himself as president despite credible evidence that he lost reelection last year. Long on the receiving end of accusations of human rights abuses, Maduro for months used the men's detention in El Salvador to flip the script on the U.S. government, forcing even some of his strongest political opponents to agree with his condemnation of the migrants' treatment. The migrants' return will allow Maduro to reaffirm support within his shrinking base, while it demonstrates that even if the Trump administration and other nations see him as an illegitimate president, he is still firmly in power. The release comes just a week after the State Department reiterated its policy of shunning Maduro government officials and recognizing only the National Assembly elected in 2015 as the legitimate government of the country. Signed by Rubio, the cable said U.S. officials are free to meet and have discussions with National Assembly members 'but cannot engage with Maduro regime representatives unless cleared by the Department of State.' Venezuelan authorities detained nearly a dozen U.S. citizens in the second half of 2024 and linked them to alleged plots to destabilize the country. 'We have prayed for this day for almost a year. My brother is an innocent man who was used as a political pawn by the Maduro regime, said a statement from Christian Casteneda, whose brother Wilbert, a Navy SEAL, was arrested in his Caracas hotel room last year. Story continues below advertisement Global Reach, a nonprofit organization that had advocated for his release and that of several other Americans, said Venezuelan officials initially and falsely accused him of being involved in a coup but backed off that claim. The Americans were among dozens of people, including activists, opposition members and union leaders, that Venezuela's government took into custody in its brutal campaign to crack down on dissent in the 11 months since Maduro claimed to win reelection. The U.S. government, along with several other Western nations, does not recognize Maduro's claim to victory and instead points to tally sheets collected by the opposition coalition showing that its candidate, Edmundo González, won the July 2024 election by a more than a two-to-one margin. The dispute over results prompted immediate protests, and the government responded by detaining more than 2,000 people, mostly poor young men. González fled into exile in Spain to avoid arrest. Despite the U.S. not recognizing Maduro, the two governments have carried out other recent exchanges. In May, Venezuela freed a U.S. Air Force veteran after about six months in detention. Scott St. Clair's family has said the language specialist, who served four tours in Afghanistan, had traveled to South America to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. St. Clair was handed over to Richard Grenell, Trump's envoy for special missions, during a meeting on a Caribbean island. Story continues below advertisement Three months earlier, six other Americans whom the U.S. government considered wrongfully detained in Venezuela were released after Grenell met with Maduro at the presidential palace. Grenell, during the meeting in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, urged Maduro to take back deported migrants who have committed crimes in the U.S. Hundreds of Venezuelans have since been deported to their home country, but more than 200 deported from the U.S. have been held since mid-March at the prison in El Salvador. Lawyers have little access to those in the prison, which is heavily guarded, and information has been locked tight, other than heavily produced state propaganda videos showing tattooed men packed behind bars. As a result, prominent human rights groups and lawyers working with the Venezuelans on legal cases had little information of their movement until they boarded the plane.
