One hundred police officers from the Integrated Weapons Trafficking Team (EILTA) ran into four addresses to dismantle a gun distribution network that supplied the gang’s street environment in Northeast Montreal.
Police arrested Jérémie Lamontagne and Jonathan Lavigne in Delson, Marc-Antoine Lefebvre in Longueuil, then Daniel Charleus in Old Montreal.
All the suspects will be charged this afternoon at the Longueuil courthouse with various charges related to the trafficking of illegal firearms.
The operation conducted this morning will have a direct impact on the circulation of guns on the streets of Montreal. The group of suspects is in the business of getting all kinds of guns, and reselling them to anyone who wants them on the island of Montreal. explanation of a police source close to the operation.
According to our information, the investigation will identify Jérémie Lamontagne as the main suspect in this gun distribution network. His suspected accomplice, Daniel Charleus, served as a contact to sell handguns to Jean-Pierre Célestin, a prominent street gang leader in Montreal, and was described as violent by our police sources at SPVM and at SQ.
According to both of these sources, Célestin, who was arrested as part of the NOVAS police operation several years ago, has been particularly active again in downtown Montreal since he finished his prison sentence.
He was a dangerous and influential gang leader. During his incarceration, he ran the banned market within the walls added another police source who participated in the investigation in 2017.
Since the resale of these guns in Montreal in recent months, four suspects have allegedly provided weapons involved in the violent events that have made headlines in recent months.
Eight searches are planned at the end of the day.
The operation is part of CENTAURE’s provincial strategy, which aims to neutralize firearms trafficking and other criminal activity in Quebec.
Source: Radio-Canada
