Quebec police make more arrests in organized crime sweep
Quebec police say as many as 21 people have been arrested since police operations targeting a violent conflict between criminal groups began on Friday.
The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and the Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ) announced Sunday they had made new arrests linked to the clashes between the Quebec chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and independent drug dealers.
SPVQ Capt. Marie-Manon Savard said officers arrested three men and one woman, aged between 35 and 40, early Sunday morning.
"I can tell you that the people who were arrested today are people who are close to a top leader of a well-known criminal group," Savard told reporters, adding that the group is known as the Blood Family Mafia (BFM).
She said officers from her force conducted two raids in the provincial capital Sunday, while provincial police conducted another in Lac-Aux-Sables, Que., about 90 kilometres west of the city.
Drugs, handgun ammunition, a bulletproof vest and a drill that may have blood on it were seized in the raids, police said in a news release.
For its part, the SQ announced it had arrested seven more suspects in its operation against organized crime in several parts of eastern Quebec. Another arrest announced Monday morning brings the total number to 17 since Friday.
That includes two 36-year-old men arrested Friday in connection with a kidnapping that took place last week in Saint-Malachie, in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, which left one dead and three injured.
Police say other people linked to the conflict have been kidnapped and tortured.
More than a dozen of those arrested appeared in court via videoconference over the weekend.
