The Sûreté du Québec carried out 35 arrests and 15 searches as part of a major operation which mobilized more than 200 police officers in connection with armed violence linked to conflicts in the world of organized crime in the province.
These arrests took place in several regions of Quebec, including the greater Quebec region, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, the North Shore, Gaspésie, the greater Montreal region and Outaouais.
According to the chief inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, Michel Patenaude, individuals of all allegiances linked to more than thirty files are among those arrested.
He also specified that several individuals arrested are linked to the events in Saint-Malachie last February as well as “other violent events” that occurred in Saguenay and on the North Shore.
Still according to Mr. Patenaude, charges of kidnapping, forcible confinement, armed assault, discharge of firearms, arson and drug trafficking will be filed against those arrested.
Furthermore, the Sûreté du Québec also launched a wanted notice to find David Trottier-Boucher, 25, suspected of having participated in a kidnapping in Saguenay last February.
Visit to detention centers
The operation carried out on Wednesday had the particularity that it did not only target individuals at large. Interventions also took place, in collaboration with the Services correctionnels du Québec, inside six detention centers in the province where more than a dozen cell phones were seized.
By joining forces, we are working to counter illicit trafficking and the possession of prohibited items in detention establishments and to increase staff security. Moreover, several cellular devices were recovered by our investigators and will be analyzed in the coming weeks. Michel Patenaude, chief inspector at the Sûreté du Québec
Mr. Patenaude also maintained that the police wanted to demonstrate to criminals and the general public.
In September we saw an increase in acts of violence, at that time we continued to maintain the pressure. What we wanted to do today is a public demonstration that, despite the fact that we don’t see the investigators all the time […]we wanted to demonstrate, as we did during Operation Scandalous, that we are present and we are there. Even if the files are a few months or weeks old, we complete them and work on them. Michel Patenaude, chief inspector at the Sûreté du Québec
More than a hundred weapons seized since September
Without revealing precisely how many weapons had been seized as part of its operation on Wednesday, the Sûreté du Québec indicated that 126 firearms had been confiscated as part of its investigations into the royalties dispute since September.
Of these, 83 were handguns and more than half are believed to have entered Canada illegally from the United States.
As for the drugs seized on Wednesday, it was still too early to establish an exhaustive list. The SQ, however, confirmed having got their hands on large quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine and crystal meth.
We have a few kilos of cocaine, we have methamphetamines, crystal meth, different narcotics… You have to understand that we have a lot of operations underway throughout Quebec. Each of these operations will have seizures and several of them are not completed. It will therefore be difficult to have a figure close to reality.
Benoit Richard, communications lieutenant for the Sûreté du Québec
Frampton remains “an investigative priority”
Concerning the events in Frampton last September, where a 14-year-old teenager who came from Montreal to attack the Red Devils’ hideout, a school club of the Hells Angels, was killed, the chief inspector of the Sûreté du Québec indicated that it was still “an investigative priority.”
This is a file that is extremely important for our organization. It is an organizational priority. There are actions that have been taken and will continue. This is a priority for investigation. Michel Patenaude, chief inspector at the Sûreté du Québec
