The arrest of five suspects, mainly linked to Montreal street gangs, on Wednesday, in different cities across Canada, could allow police officers to elucidate three murders committed over the past two years in Greater Montreal.
The five individuals are all men aged between 26 and 35 years old. They were arrested in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Two of them were already in prison for other crimes.
Following the arrests, searches also took place in Montreal, Sherbrooke, Cambridge in Ontario and Kamloops in British Columbia.
The suspects apprehended in the province were to appear by Thursday at the Montreal courthouse on murder charges.
Those caught outside Quebec will be repatriated to Montreal and will appear in court at a later date.
The murders that could be solved thanks to these arrests are Noël Garcia-Frias, Justice Owusu Tajudeen and Christopher-Shawn Jean Vilsaint.
Garcia-Frias was shot and killed on the evening of June 16, 2023, in Charlemagne, on the northern outskirts of Montreal.
He was shot several times while he was in his Audi SUV in a commercial parking lot. Originally from Montreal North, the 32-year-old man was known in police circles for his activities in drug trafficking and for his links with street gangs.
Justice Owusu Tajudeen, 28, was shot and killed on the night of August 7, 2023, leaving bars in downtown Montreal.
Tajudeen was linked to a Montreal street gang involved in a violent conflict with another Laval gang.
Finally, Christopher Shawn Jean Vilsaint was also an influential member of a Montreal street gang. The 27-year-old rapper, nicknamed “Dirty S”, was shot dead on May 14, in front of a recording studio in the Ahuntsic district.
This series of arrests is the result of a joint investigation carried out by the Sûreté du Québec and the Police Department of the City of Montreal.
