The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating a multimillion-dollar scam in which counterfeit Cuban cigars–some packed with human hair and deadly banana leaves–are smuggled in and sold to Americans.
Those doing the smuggling are eager to make big profits from selling oversized Cuban cigars to U.S. citizens banned from buying them at home.
“It’s happening across Canada–we’re getting calls from Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal,” Constable Doug Bissette said in Windsor, Ontario.
Hundreds of Americans cross the border into Windsor for Cuban cigars long forbidden at home under a U.S. embargo against Fidel Castro’s regime.
Last fall, two Americans tipped police to the scam, saying they paid a store owner in Windsor $540 each for boxes they believed contained Cohibas, considered the best Cuban cigar. That was less than half the usual selling price of $1,190 a box.
What the Americans lit were foul-tasting fakes apparently made from floor sweepings in Cuban cigar factorIn one case, the fakes were packed with human hair and thread, Constable Annette Doucette, a Windsor customs official, told The Associated Press.
Big Mac attack
A man who says he became violently ill when he bit into a Big Mac and found a rolled-up condom is suing a McDonald’s restaurant.
Jeff Bolling is seeking punitive damages or “exemplary fines” from the McDonald’s in Hoover, Ala., and its parent company, CLP Corp. The company and the franchise’s management deny any wrongdoing.
In the lawsuit, Bolling claims he became violently ill and suffered extreme emotional distress after finding the condom Oct. 6, 1995, after going through a drive-through window. He had tried to bite through what he thought was a pickle several times, Bolling said.
Police said the condom was not packaged, but was rolled up, as it would appear when new.
Doctors have found no signs of disease in Bolling.
