Boats collide near Cornwall in police chase

U.S. officials are investigating after two men were seriously injured when their boat collided with a pursuing coast guard vessel on the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall on Monday night.

The collision occurred as RCMP, U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard vessels pursued what they believed was a smuggling boat.

The suspected smuggling boat collided with the coast guard vessel, throwing the two men in the boat into the water. The men were airlifted to a hospital in Burlington, Vt., where they are listed in serious condition.

Sharlene Oakes, who lives on the Akwesasne territory that straddles Ontario, Quebec and the United States, said both the injured men lived on the Mohawk land.

She said one of the men, her cousin, was paralyzed and had no feeling in his body after the incident.

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Michael Harvey said the incident began when the Cornwall Regional Task Force was on marine patrol and attempted to stop a vessel that was speeding along the river with its lights off.

Harvey said the boat didn't stop and instead entered U.S. waters, where the U.S. Border Patrol and Coast Guard took over pursuit.

Cigarette smuggling

U.S. authorities have yet to lay any charges, and RCMP said they are continuing their investigation.

The RCMP reported in 2008 that Akwesasne was the source of 90 per cent of illegal cigarettes in Canada and estimated that cigarette smuggling costs the federal government as much as $2 billion in lost tax revenue per year.

The reserve has been moving to legitimize its cigarette industry, and on Wednesday the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced that Tarbell Inc., which runs an unlicensed U.S. cigarette factory, received a U.S. Treasury Department permit to legally manufacture cigarettes effective April 7.

As part of the deal, the company also agreed to pay $1.75 million US in fines to the bureau for prior cigarette trafficking and tax law violations.