Four suspected drug traffickers were arrested Tuesday in Montreal following the overdose death of a 15-year-old boy last December. According to authorities, the defendants sold him a powerful opioid through social media.
Laxshan Mylvaganam, Simon Paquette Gerardo and Philippe Lévesque-Plamondon, three men aged 24 and 37, appeared at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday. As for the fourth suspect, he is a 17-year-old minor who will appear at a later date in Youth Division.
They face multiple charges related to possession of narcotics and possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.
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Crown prosecutor Delphine Mauger
Photo: Radio-Canada / IVANOH DEMERS
These arrests were made in connection with the death of Mathis Boivin on December 22. The 15-year-old died of an overdose after unknowingly consuming nitazene, a synthetic opioid five times more powerful than fentanyl.
The Montreal Police Department (SPVM) reported conducting three searches in residences and another in a vehicle in connection with this case. The police seized more than 1,000 counterfeit pills during these operations.
These arrests are the result of a long investigation by the SPVM which lasted nine months.
reported on the airwaves of ICI RDI Yannick Desmarais, commander of the South Criminal Investigation Division. It was like a marathon. All the investigative techniques were considered, which allowed us to go even further.
During an interview given to the show All one morningon the airwaves of ICI Première, Christian Boivin, the father of Mathis Boivin, admitted to having lived a lot of emotions
when he received the call from the police announcing the arrests linked to his son’s death.
It puts a balm on the wound
he confided.
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Christian Boivin, left, with his son Mathis Boivin, who died of an opioid overdose.
Photo: Courtesy / Christian Boivin
The latter, who since his son’s death has given lectures in schools to raise awareness among young people about the dangers of opioids, hopes that governments will be more active
And inject more funds
to prevent similar tragedies.
Are we going to wait for other young people like Mathis to die every day?
he lamented to Patrick Masbourian. It’s too late for my child, but we can still save the others.
According to data from the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), more than 500 people died from suspected poisoning by opioids or other substances from October 2021 to September 2022.
With information from Karine Bastien and Charlotte Dumoulin
