Van with N.S. plates was all over the road and stuffed with illegal smokes

The white cube van was all over the road with an off-duty Mountie tailing it as best he could.

It was 10:40 a.m. on May 27 when Const. Benjamin Goodwin heard the Cumberland County RCMP broadcast a lookout over police radio about the 2010 Ford Econoline with Nova Scotia plates.

Goodwin drove from Lower Onslow to Highway 104 and stopped in the turnaround just west of Exit 15.

“A small blue car with a male driver and a female passenger stopped their vehicle on the highway beside Const. Godwin’s police vehicle and frantically explained that there was a white van approaching behind them that they had observed driving erratically from the left side to the right side of the road,” RCMP Const. Joshua Burcham said in a warrant application.

Van passes police 

As Goodwin was listening to them, the van passed on the highway.

The Mountie turned on his lights and sirens and gave chase, noting the licence plate was the same one he’d been looking for.

The van turned right on to the Highway 102 connector and stopped beside the on ramp.

An Emergency Health Services supervisor had also pulled over at the scene.

The van’s driver asked Goodwin if the ambulance’s driver had told police to pull him over.

“Goodwin explained that there was a complaint from Cumberland County about his driving, followed by a complaint from the occupants of a blue car followed by a paramedic,” Burcham said in information to obtain a warrant filed at Truro provincial court.

‘Lethargic speech’

The driver had “red, watery eyes, an apparent sensitivity to light and slow lethargic speech,” Burcham said.

“The driver advised that his last drink of alcohol was several months ago and that he was just trying to save gas which is why he was driving the way he was.”

The van’s gas tank was three quarters full.

David Wayne Barrie, 67, gave the officer his Ontario driver’s licence and informed the cop who pulled him over that he’d had a good sleep the night before.

Off the shoulder three times 

When Goodwin chatted up the EHS supervisor, he learned the van had gone off the shoulder of the highway three times “past the rumble strips and on to the dirt and then back over the centre lane,” Burcham said.

“At the exit for Debert, the (van) had been on the off ramp and at the last second cut across and back to the lane behind him.”

Goodwin figured Barrie was a good candidate for the breathalyzer, but the driver blew clean.

“Goodwin was still suspicious Barrie’s ability to operate the motor vehicle was impaired and believed it may be due to a medical condition such as diabetes,” Burcham said.

Barrie mentioned diabetes and talked about how he’d had bubbles in his urine for the past few months.

The driver was hunched over and the sun was pretty hot, so Goodwin suggested Barrie sit in his police car while waiting for paramedics to check him out.

Bottle of pills 

That’s when another Mountie at the scene noticed the van’s inspection sticker was expired.

Mounties patted Barrie down for safety before putting him in the patrol car. That’s when Goodwin located “a pill bottle with multiple different pills in it and a worn off illegible label” in the man’s right front pocket, Burcham said.

“Goodwin became suspicious that Barrie may have been impaired by drugs.”

But he figured the driver’s health was still top priority.

Police told Barrie his van would have to be towed due to the expired inspection sticker. Then they told him they’d have to check the contents.

When they asked him what was in the back, Barrie told them he didn’t know.

‘Problematic’ route 

One Mountie asked Barrie where he was driving from.

“Barrie advised that he had drove from Cape Breton which (the officer) thought was problematic because Barrie and the van were viewed in Cumberland County.”

When police asked Barrie how long he’d been awake, he told them since 7 p.m. the night before.

Paramedics arrived at 11:22 a.m. “There was a lot of confusion with David Barrie’s story and that diabetes was a possibility,” Burcham said.

Police spied a pack of illegal smokes – Oakdale Originals — on the floor of the van just before one of the paramedics approached them to divulge he’d overheard Barrie say he had $30,000 worth of cigarettes in the back.

Mounties figured they should likely get a search warrant just as the paramedics determined Barrie’s heart was ticking along fine and he didn’t need to go to the hospital.

‘I’ll just get my buddy to claim them’

At 11: 38 a.m., police cautioned Barrie that he was under investigation for impaired driving and possession of illegal tobacco.

“When asked about the illegal cigarettes in the van Barrie replied, ‘I’ll just get my buddy to claim them,’ and that his were more the legal ones, the Oakdales.”

When asked about the other cigarettes in the back, Barrie told police he thought they were Players.

Mystery passenger 

Barrie told police he’d dropped a passenger off at Exit 9.

“Goodwin was aware that between New Brunswick and (their) present location there was no Exit 9 and questioned Barrie on this. Barrie replied, ‘I didn’t drop him off.’”

Mounties decided to check the back of the van to make sure there wasn’t a passenger hiding.

Inside they found cases of what looked to be illegal cigarettes.

‘Strong smell’

“Goodwin noted a strong smell of fresh tobacco.”

Police took Barrie to the Bible Hill RCMP detachment just after noon to give him a sobriety test.

Both Barrie and the van’s owner, Walter Dennis Serroul “showed criminal history in police databases,” Burcham said.

Around 4:20 p.m., investigators asked Barrie where the smokes came from. He “advised the tobacco came from Tyenindaga, Ontario, near Belleville. Barrie advised that the cigattes on the floor of (the van) were not ‘Indian cigarettes,’ but he had removed the labels from the cartons,” Burcham said.

Valued at over $130,000

He convinced a justice of the peace to allow a search of the van for unstamped tobacco products, invoices, receipts, “scent masking paraphernalia,” mobile phones and cash.

During their May 28 search, Mounties seized 64 cases of Canadian Lights, “unstamped cigarettes” valued at $128,000. They also seized 15 cartons of peach flavoured Oakdale Originals on which the duty had been paid, a case of unstamped Canadian Full Flavour cigarettes valued at $2,000, a bag of notes containing contacts “and possible score sheets,” and half a dozen packs of Oakdale Originals valued at $17.

Barrie, who lived in Florence, near Baddeck, is slated to appear in Truro Provincial Court Monday for election and/or plea on charges including possession of unstamped tobacco products, impaired driving, and transporting tobacco without a permit.