7 arrested in Montreal area police raids targeting drug network
Raids net almost $1M in cash, more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, other drugs
Seven men are in custody after a series of police raids in the Montreal area Wednesday morning targeting a drug-trafficking network with links to organized crime.
Police executed warrants in Montreal, Laval, Île Bizard and Blainville.
In a news release, provincial police said they seized almost $1 million in cash and four guns, along with 113 kilograms of cocaine, 60 empty one-kilogram bags for packaging cocaine, 127 kilograms of marijuana, 50,000 methamphetamine pills, 15 kilograms of the local anaesthetic procaine and one kilogram of MDMA.
The operation, dubbed Project Estacade, followed raids mounted in November 2015 that targeted a drug-trafficking network run by Montreal's Mafia, Hells Angels and street gangs.
Police rounded up 48 people in the 2015 raids. Those arrested and charged include Maurice (Mom) Boucher, the imprisoned former boss of the Hells Angels in Quebec, his daughter Alexandra Mongeau and Leonardo Rizzuto, son of the longtime patriarch of Montreal's Mafia, Vito Rizzuto, who died of natural causes in 2013.
Network 'very active' in cocaine trade
The seven men were expected to appear in a Montreal court Wednesday afternoon to face charges.
Officers were still looking for an eighth man, 40-year-old Nicola Valiante of Laval.
Provincial police spokesman Sgt. Daniel Thibodeau said the men could face a variety of charges.
"There will be a whole mixed bag of charges related to drug trafficking, possibly gangsterism, but the charges have yet to be approved by the Crown prosecutors," he said.
"We'll know a bit more this afternoon once they appear in court, and the exact charges will be laid out."
with files from Lauren McCallum