Subhead:Criminals are becoming “more refined in their methods,” warns former Quebec police investigator Danny Fournier. “Tobacco, cocaine, drugs — sometimes it’s even humans. The commodity doesn’t matter.”#
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At the Westin Hotel, former Sûreté du Québec investigator Danny Fournier describes a criminal landscape transformed. After decades spent fighting organized crime and leading Quebec’s anti-contraband operations under the Accès program, Fournier is now senior manager of illicit trade prevention at Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Canada — and one of the first in the country to build an online surveillance program targeting illicit sales.
“Since 2022, we’ve seen a resurgence of illicit operations — but online,” he warns. What used to be physical, street-level smuggling has migrated to the open web. “No need to go on the deep web or dark web,” Fournier says. “On the open internet, you can find pretty much any substance — contraband tobacco, drugs, firearms.”
He calls this shift a direct consequence of criminals becoming “more refined in their methods,” while enforcement struggles to keep pace. His team has stepped in to fill major gaps: “We complement police agencies where there are shortages,” he explains. When cigarette-manufacturing machinery is intercepted at the border, “it’s us who inspect it, identify it, and produce the report so they can seize it.”
