"Two investors in smoke plant - drug connection"

HAMILTON - Two Hamilton businessmen, pushing for the establishment of a tax-free cigarette plant on the Six Nations Reserve, once ran a major drug smuggling pipeline from Mexico to Canada.

Peter Montour, 53, and his son Jerry, 32, were both charged with conspiracy to import marijuana into Canada in April, 1987, after an international investigation involving Hamilton-Wentworth police, the OPP, FBI, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

They were both convicted and sentenced to jail terms in 1988.

In a telephone interview, Peter Montour acknowledged his past problems with the law but stressed the cigarette plant is above board.

"What does that have to do with this particular issue? We're only trying to set up for manufacturing cigarettes for cash flow, so people can get fed... I've given my whole life to this proposition," Mr. Montour said.

He added that he and Jerry had both worked hard to put the past behind them after they were released from jail about five years ago.

"It's the only thing I've done in my past. If I could turn the clock back, I would," he said.

Testifying in a Hamilton courtroom in 1988, Hamilton-Wentworth police Sgt. Wayne Moore described the Montours as key players in the sophisticated drug-smuggling operation which had arranged to transport 37 kilograms of marijuana from Mexico into Ontario.

Jerry Montour was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary and the father to one year in a provincial reformatory.

While he was at the Guelph Correctional Institute, the elder Montour was charged in connection with another plot to smuggle 93 kgs of marijuana into Canada after a courier was arrested with the drugs in Arkansas on March 9, 1988.

The second charge was withdrawn in 1989, after his co-accused, Aldon Schlosser, made a deal with the police to have the charges dropped if he agreed to help them solve two old murders.

The elder Montour and his family operate the Aquarium Restaurant and Tavern in Hamilton. In the past, Peter Montour has been described in the media as a chef and a seafood importer.

At a press conference Monday, Peter and Jerry Montour revealed that they were among 10 partners in Grand River Enterprises which is seeking permission from Revenue Canada to buy Ontario tobacco for a tax-exempt cigarette manufacturing plant.

GRE officials are scheduled to meet with Revenue Minister David Anderson and Haldimand-Norfolk MP Bob Speller today to discuss the scheme. GRE wants to buy 907,000 kg. of tobacco