Sûreté du Québec. Image credit: X/@sureteduquebec
Following violent clashes between independent drug dealers and an outlaw motorcycle gang, a total of 18 arrests have been made in Quebec.
As of Sunday afternoon, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) reportedly announced it had made a total of 14 arrests with nine arrests on Saturday, and five have since been added.
These arrests included two 36-year-old men in Sept-Îles and Quebec City in connection with the events in Saint-Malachie, in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, where a hostage-taking incident involving members of the Hells Angels took place on Monday.
Four of the arrested people faced with several charges appeared in court in the Quebec city on Sunday.
Joined by the tactical intervention squad and the Sûreté du Québec, investigators from the SPVQ’s MALSAIN project, which is looking into the increase in violence linked to drug trafficking carried out this operation.
“Following the arrests, we conducted two searches on our territory, in Beauport, and one outside in collaboration with the Sûreté du Québec (in) Lac-aux-Sables,” said SPVQ Captain Marie-Manon Savard at a press briefing on Sunday morning.
During the searches, police were able to recover a ballistic vest, masks, 0.5 and 9 millimetre ammunition, narcotics, three cell phones, more than ten grams of what may have been cocaine, a drill with blood on it and $1,500 in cash.
