" C" Division - News Releases

(Cornwall, Ontario, Monday, November 20, 2006) – 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.

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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.

Manufacturing of Cigarettes
The investigation has established that William Hank Cook and Patrick Johnson invested a great deal of money into a cigarette manufacturing plant located in the State of New York on the Akwesasne Territory. The cigarettes made by the underground company named MHP Manufacturing were smuggled into Canada through the Akwasasne reserve and taken to Cornwall Island. The cigarettes were then delivered to various clients or stored pending distribution.

Profits Redirected to Purchasing Drugs
Contraband cigarettes smuggled from New York State to Canada were intercepted on several occasions upon being taken from Cornwall Island for distribution to various locations.

The investigation has also established that the profits generated from the sale of cigarettes were used to purchase marihuana on local, regional, national and international markets. Part of the marijuana was sold in the United States for US funds that were then used to finance the operations of the cigarette manufacturing plant owned by William Hank Cook and Patrick Johnson.

The members of the Cornwall Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), Royal Canadian Mounted Police, are still investigating the proceeds of crime component of the Project.

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For Information:

Sergeant Michael Harvey
Cornwall RCMP Detachment
(613) 937-2800