Ten arrested in Laval

At the break of dawn this past Wednesday, 80 Laval Police agents armed with 26 warrants arrested 10 Laval residents as part of a wider metropolitan region operation called ‘Projet Colisée'.

These raids, which had been in preparation by the RCMP for four years involved the contribution of 1000 people. The object of the crackdown was to deal a blow to what the police call “the traditional operations of the Italian Mafia in the Montreal area – organized crime and drug running.�

The RCMP operation was carried out by police officers (Montreal, Laval, SQ), border guards, customs officials, prosecutors and others, including Transport Canada and Revenue Canada.

Once brought in, many of the suspects were arraigned, most were denied bail and jailed at Bordeaux. Some were released on $1000 bail. Bail hearings for those not released are scheduled for Monday, November 27. Those out on bail were imposed strict conditions such as surrendering passports, not possessing weapons and refraining from communicating with their co-accused. Arraignments of the rest were undertaken on Thursday.

Police are not done with the arrests, holding at least 90 warrants for other suspects which have yet to be brought in. Most of the charges leveled against those arrested relate to cocaine trafficking.

According to Pierre Desautels of Laval Police, the suspects will face more than 1000 charges, among which are money laundering, conspiracy to import and traffic in illicit drugs, racketeering, illegal internet gambling, possession of banned material, illegal possession of firearms, and attempted murder.

To date, one person in Toronto and another in Halifax had also been arrested.

The RCMP investigation also led to the seizure of the assets of some of the suspects, including property and bank accounts.