Police in Quebec have stepped up their campaign against smuggled cigarettes, using heat detectors, helicopters and snowmobiles to chase smugglers across ice bridges.

The RCMP, Quebec provincial police and Mohawk police from the Akwesasne reserve have been co-ordinating their efforts for the past three years.

The waterways and back roads through Akwesasne form one of the main channels for contraband cigarettes between Canada and the U.S. The RCMP says 20,000 cartons cross the border illegally every day.

High-speed chases across the frozen river have increased and officers have seized 35 shipments of smuggled cigarettes in the first two months of this year. That's more than three times the number of busts made over the same period in 2004.

It's become a game to some.

"I loved every minute of it," says Christina King, who dodged police for five years. "I loved the excitement of getting chased."

Cartons of cigarettes being confiscated

The smugglers, who are also carting drugs, are often protected by organized criminal groups. Many on the reserve say Canadian and provincial police have no right intervening on their territory because it straddles Ontario, Quebec and New York state – of which none are regarded as the proper authorities.

"You also have to recognize that many in Akwesasne consider [smuggling] the exercise of their sovereignty," says Chief Angela Barnes, with the Akwesasne Band Council.