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NEWMARKET — It used to be seen as a mere occupational fine for these crime tourists.

They’d arrive in the spring by the planeload from South America — usually by way of Mexico — and smash and grab their way through the GTA before returning home when the weather turns cold with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash and jewels.

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And if these visiting crooks happened to get caught, they knew they faced a few months in jail — at most — before they were deported home on the Canadian dime.

But these three thieves standing in the prisoner’s box had the misfortune of running into an experienced police task force, a dogged Crown attorney and a judge intent on sending a message that we’re no longer willing to be an easy destination on the crime tourist’s map.

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The shocked trio is now heading to a federal penitentiary to serve a precedent-setting two-and-a-half year sentence.

“Residential break-and-enters strike at the core of our Canadian and community values. They are a gross and jarring invasion of privacy and security,” Ontario Court Justice Amit Ghosh told the trio through a Spanish interpreter Thursday.