2007/5/23
Rivière-du-Loup, May 23, 2007 Early this morning, as part of Project Aorte/Julien, the Sûreté du Québec and members of the Bathurst Edmundston Regional Drug Unit comprised of members of the RCMP and Municipal Police agencies of Bathurst and Edmundston launched a major operation aimed at stopping the activities of a criminal organization involved in the production and trafficking of marijuana as well as the export of this substance to the United States. This organization was also involved in the trafficking of cocaine in New Brunswick and the Lower St. Lawrence region of Québec.
This network produced marijuana in various regions of Québec and then exported it through New Brunswick to the United States. The area of distribution for cocaine was mostly in the Lower St. Lawrence region of Québec and the province of New Brunswick.
Today's operation involved more than 370 police officers from Québec and New Brunswick, and included the execution of 26 search warrants and 55 arrest warrants in Québec as well as 8 search warrants and 18 arrest warrants in New Brunswick.
The main individuals targeted by this investigation will face several charges of producing, possessing, trafficking, conspiring to traffic and exporting drugs as well as charges of gangsterism. They will all appear this afternoon or tomorrow at the Rivière-du-Loup Courthouse.
This investigation targeted the following regions: the Lower St. Lawrence, including the areas of Rivière-Bleue, Pohénégamook and Saint-Alexandre, Québec City, Laval and the Lower Laurentians in Québec, and, in New Brunswick, the areas of Saint-Léonard and Edmundston as well as the area bordering the State of Maine.
Launched in 2004 by the Rimouski Regional Investigation Office of the Sûreté du Québec, this investigation required an extensive partnership that included the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in New Brunswick, the Organized Crime Investigation Service of the Sûreté du Québec, and the Integrated Border Enforcement Team, which includes members of the RCMP and Canadian and American customs agencies. The United States Immigration and Customs Agency as well as American border patrol officers also contributed to the investigation from time to time.
Initial searches were conducted on March 21, 2007 in the same areas of the Lower St. Lawrence. This included the execution of 12 search warrants, the arrest of 17 individuals and the seizure of 9,567 marijuana plants, 93.85 kilograms of marijuana and more than $18,000 in Canadian currency.
Marijuana production in Québec is a criminal activity that is growing faster than police enforcement capabilities. Recent investigations have shown an increase in the traffic of marijuana across the Maine-New Brunswick border. A large portion of this marijuana is destined for larger urban centres in the United States.
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For more information:
Bathurst Edmundston Regional Drug Unit
S/Sgt. Gary Le Gresley
(506) 545-0443
(506) 423-1032
Sgt. Dan Nowlan
(506) 423-2070
(506) 423-1032
