Let's Follow This To It's Conclusion.......

......and see what penalties are levied against the accussed.

RCMP finally busts a small group of aboriginal criminals
Tuesday, November 21. 2006

The RCMP arrests 12 subjects allegedly linked to a cigarette smuggling and drug trafficking ring

The members of the Cornwall Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with the assistance of their police partners, arrested twelve subjects who will be charged with a total 115 counts of indictment for various offences, including drug trafficking and cigarette smuggling. An underground cigarette manufacturing plant was also dismantled. Approximately thirty police officers took part in this operation conducted as part of Project Crawler.

Arrests were made in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, as well as the Akwesasne Territory. RCMP officers were able to apprehend ring leaders William Hank Cook, 31, of Cornwall, and Patrick Johnson, 36, of Akwesasne, USA, who allegedly engaged in the smuggling of drugs from Canada to the United States. They will be facing a total of twenty-nine and twenty-one counts of indictment respectively. William Hank Cook will be charged with various offences, including drug possession, conspiracy to traffic in drugs and cigarette smuggling. As for Patrick Johnson, he will be charged with possession and sale of unstamped manufactured tobacco, and conspiracy to smuggle cigarettes, among other charges.

These arrests were made as a result of an investigation launched more than two years ago. Information gathered by the Cornwall Criminal Intelligence Section was used to expose the illegal activities of the organization led by William Hank Cook and Patrick Johnson. Using runners, they arranged for the transportation of drugs by boat across the St. Lawrence River from the Canadian to the US side of the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.

The other persons facing charges in connection with this smuggling ring are:

Michael Clayton Cook, 28, of Cornwall Island, Akwesasne, Ont.; Tyler Bertrand, 24, of Cornwall, Ont.; Francis Gauthier, 32, of Châteauguay, Quebec; Jeremiah Ingram, 47, of Long Sault, Ont.; Jonathan Poitras, 29, of Saint-Zotique, Quebec; Jonathan Thompson, 27, of Akwesasne, Quebec; Lawrence Christian Francis, 22, of Cornwall Island, Akwesasne, Ont.; Kristopher Johnson, 23, of Akwesasne, USA; Waylon White, 29, of Cornwall Island, Akwesasne, Ont.; and Louie Cook, 27, of Cornwall Island, Akwesasne, Ont.

Posted by Editor