A judge in Belleville has awarded $1.3 million to a South American businessman after a theft from a Tyendinaga cigarette manufacturing plant.
On Thursday March 10, Justice John Johnston awarded the money to Raul Paterson, after several pieces of a manufacturing line were stolen from a Highway 49 property.
Justice Johnston has ordered Noble Tobacco Company, Andrew Clifford Miracle and Gairin Smith to repay the money to Paterson, the man who loaned the equipment.
The equipment, that is alleged to have been stolen by Gairin Smith, includes a cigarette maker, a tipper, a cellophane wrapper and more.
Smith, who faces charges of theft over $5,000, is believed to be out of the country.
He, along with the equipment, is believed to be in the Bahamas.
Smith was a member of the Belleville Bulls hockey club in the early 1990s.
