Akwesasne, a Mohawk reservation located in northern New York, is one of the busiest locations in the smuggling of cigarettes between the United States and Canada.

From the Associated Press:

A bit smaller than the Bronx, the reservation straddles New York state, Quebec and Ontario and is sliced by the St. Lawrence River. Border crossers here pass through land controlled by four distinct governments: New York state, U.S.-side Mohawks, Canadian-side Mohawks and Ontario. This geopolitical complexity has helped make Akwesasne a go-to gateway for smugglers at least since Prohibition.

As previously reported, the black market cigarettes in Canada are generally “no-name cigarettes” that are produced without any labels or brand names. These cigarettes are then trucked north to be sold to customers.

Sneaking the goods into Canada is a cat-and-mouse game. Smugglers zip across the river at night in low-profile duck boats with no lights to the Ontario portion of the reservation, which is an island. Then they can take a bridge to Cornwall, Ontario. Or they can boat a dozen miles down-river to any number of coves or marinas on the Canadian shore. In winter, they can drive trucks or snowmobiles over the ice.

Once in mainland Canada, it’s an easy drive to Montreal, Ottawa or Toronto. The contraband cigarettes, often sold at “smoke shacks” on Indian land in Canada, look like any other, except without labels or boxes. They are packed parallel in clear plastic resealable bags.

Globally, the cigarette smuggling industry is estimated to be worth $27.5 billion.