Bootleggers in Northern Canada Are Using Juice and Cereal Boxes to Smuggle Contraband

Booze has been illegal in parts of Canada's North for over a century.

Sadly, many aboriginal communities in northern Canada plagued by alcoholism, which creates a black market for booze where a bottle of vodka can fetch upwards of $500. These economic factors make "dry" communities the ideal destination for those trying to smuggle alcohol.

Earlier this week, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers seized two 2.63 liter Five Alive jugs filled with vodka destined for Lutsel'ke in the Northwest Territories. It was hardly a big bust, but Mounties did say in a press release that it's not uncommon at all for them to come across inventive ways of hiding booze.

"While the quantity of the seizure is not remarkable, this seizure is an example of the type of concealment used in attempting to bring liquor into prohibited communities."

The jugs of fruit juice were seized at a local regional airline hangar near Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, and the RCMP were quick to fit it into the bigger picture of prohibition. "Today's seizure comes on the heels of similar circumstances of alcohol being located in cargo, and bags destined for prohibited communities over the past two weeks."

And alcohol isn't the only contraband being shipped to Canada's North. This seizure came just days after another "suspicious" package was intercepted by police in another airplane hangar. In that bust, the RCMP found "181 grams of marihuana [sic] concealed inside of a box of shredded wheat cereal," as well as six bottles of vodka.

According to authorities, the Shreddies shipment was headed to the same community as the Five Alive jugs. "The cereal box was destined for Lutsel'ke," they revealed in a separate press release. "Over the past two weeks Yellowknife RCMP also seized 8 bottles of vodka, and 12 cans of beer under similar circumstances of alcohol being located in cargo, and bags destined for restricted communities," the RCMP added.

But if prohibition south of the border proved anything, it's "ban it, and they will come." History has shown repeatedly that attempts to ban alcohol will be met only with resistance and sketchy alternatives.