How the federal government disposes of contraband items depends on the type of goods involved, according to officials from Revenue Canada who handle customs. If you're a person who enjoys cigarettes and liquor, where they end up is liable to bring tears to your eyes.

More than $1 billion dollars worth of trade can pass between the two countries in a single day, and there are there more than 100 million entries into Canada by individuals (both visitors and returning Canadians) every year, making the Canada-U.S. border one of the busiest in the world. With all of this movement of people and goods, plenty of contraband and prohibited item are discovered and seized in the course of normal operations.

In the first six months of 1997, for example, customs officials seized 4,728 cartons of cigarettes worth $68,000, 1,786 weapons worth $383,000, and were involved in 1,240 seizures of alcohol worth $181,000. But all of these figures pale next to the statistics for seizures of illegal drugs such as heroin, marijuana, and cocaine. In the first half of 1997, Customs made 3,776 drug seizures for a total value of $143 million.

So where does all this contraband end up?

Cigarettes are usually burned in high-heat incinerators which produce sufficient temperatures to avoid polluting the atmosphere. Where such incinerators are unavailable, tobacco products are pulverized by bulldozers at garbage dumps before being landfilled. Liquor can be disposed of in a number of ways depending on local conditions and local services that are available, but in all cases, "it is disposed of in a way that is environmentally responsible... often by companies which specialize in disposal of chemical waste according to the law," says Revenue Canada spokesperson Michel Cleroux. That means the booze is chemically altered and rendered environmentally harmless before being disposed of. Drugs are usually incinerated after they have been retained as evidence.

Does all of this have you wondering why the government could doesn't try to get some value out of these goods - if not the illegal drugs - the cigarettes and liquor, which are legal substances?

Cleroux says the main problem with selling seized liquor is the potential health danger. It can never be determined exactly what a bottle of contraband alcohol contains, even when it appears to be a brand-name product with the seal intact, he says, noting that smugglers are expert at producing realistic-looking products that actually contain harmful moonshine. Reports of illness or death resulting from illegal liquor are not uncommon.

The situation with seized cigarettes is different. They are generally brand-name cartons that were legally produced in Canada by tobacco companies and left the country tax-free for export, before someone tried to smuggle then back into Canada. In this case, the government wants to avoid sending the wrong message. "Many Canadians would have a problem with their government becoming a tobacco merchant while at the same time running campaigns to discourage smoking," adds Cleroux.

And finally, there's the thousands of seized televisions, automobiles, diamond rings, stereos and golf clubs that are not illegal but that were seized because someone was caught trying to smuggle them, and did not later pay to have the items released. These are periodically auctioned off and yes, the proceeds go into government revenues.

There are no exact figures as to how much money this generates nationally, since it is done at a local level and the proceeds are included with other accounting items, says Cleroux.