Police are investigating a possible Cree connection to a large drug-smuggling network in the Inuit communities that was recently dismantled and had links to the Hells Angels.
Forty police officers raided several residences in the Montreal area on May 30 and 31, arresting six people.
Among them were alleged ringleaders Gilles Allard of Val d’Or, known for his connections to the Hells Angels, and Michel Leblanc, a former RCMP officer.
Police also seized six kilos of hash, 21 grams of coke, contraband alcohol, two Jeep Cherokees and $130,000 in cash.
Cree police are staying tightlipped about whether the network was also active in the Cree communities. A Chisasibi police officer refused to say anything beyond acknowledging that police are investigating.
“The investigation is ongoing,” he said.
In other communities, police didn’t know anything about the network and said they aren’t investigating. A Whapmagoostui police officer said there is no investigation in her community.
Johnny Trapper, acting chief of police in Mistissini, said the drug market in the Chibougamau region seems to be controlled by the Satan’s Guards, a gang affiliated with the Hells Angels but based in Chicoutimi.
The Inuit network, on the other hand, was affiliated with the Rockers, a Montreal-based motorcycle gang created directly by the Hells Angels, said police.
The ring supplied the Inuit communities of Quebec and five communities in Nunavut. The investigation of the network was conducted by the Sûreté du Québec and Kativik Regional Police.
They said the dealers used a canning machine to package coke, hash and marijuana and sent it by plane to the north using a phony return address.
Police said they found a list of about 40 Inuit people who apparently owed $200,000 to $300,000 for drugs.
Police are continuing the investigation and have made at least 30 more arrests since the initial raids. They are slowly working their way down to the local dealers in each of the Inuit communities.
The network sent about a kilogram of hash north each week and made about $1.5 million in profit each year, police said.
Prices ranged from $50 a gram for hash to $200 for a gram of coke.
