LONGUEUIL
A LARGE NETWORK OF COCAINE TRAFFICKING DISMANTLED
DANIEL RENAUD
LA PRESSE April 21, 2017
The police in Longueuil yesterday dismantled a cocaine distribution network that managed to escape the police radar for a few years until becoming an organization able to sell for more than 1.5 million dollars of this drug every week.

"The investigation shows that the organization has distributed between 20 and 30 kilos of cocaine per week. Put the cost of the kilo at $ 50,000 or $ 55,000, and do the math. And at this price, the drug is not yet cut off, "says Pierre Duquette, a specialized crime inspector for the Longueuil Police Service (SPAL).

At 5 am yesterday, investigators from the Longueuil Police Network unit, assisted by their colleagues from the Richelieu Saint-Laurent Police Department, the Châteauguay police, the SQ and the RCMP, searched A dozen homes of Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil, Mont-Saint-Hilaire and Boucherville, as well as a warehouse in Beloeil that served as a cache for drugs.

Thirteen individuals were targeted. At the time of writing, ten of them had been arrested and three were wanted. Some suspects have been released while others are expected to appear today to face charges related to trafficking in cocaine and methamphetamine.

According to a partial assessment made mid-afternoon yesterday, investigators have seized up to now over $ 70,000 in cash, two kilos of cocaine, several hundred pills and nine vehicles used by the suspects.

WITH BIKERS
The disbanded organization would be independent and described as part of traditional organized crime in Quebec. It would have supplied other criminal organizations including the Devils Ghosts, a junior Hells Angels club.

The police assessed that the territory served by the organization was delimited by the sectors of Roussillon, Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Longueuil and Varennes. Historically, this territory is controlled by the South section of the Hells Angels, but nothing in the investigation has shown that the organization paid a tax to motorcyclists.

"It was a very well structured organization with a lot of contacts. The suspects used PGPs [encrypted messaging] to communicate. They were supplying themselves in an X-room with pounds, providing mid-level players who, in turn, were supplying players of lower level, "says Duquette.

It was not possible to know whether the organization was also importing. The investigation, called Sentence, began last September. Obviously, having escaped the police attention during a few years allowed the organization to take a significant place on the territory of Monterrey.