The drug war in the greater Quebec region took a new turn as police forces made 18 arrests in three days, 17 of which are directly linked to the Dave “Pic” Turmel clan.
• Read also: Lieutenants arrested and searches: Dave “Pic” Turmel’s gang decimated
• Read also: Right arm of Dave “Pic” Turmel”: a rapper from Quebec accused, among other things, of mutilation
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According to our Bureau of Investigation, two lieutenants of the young boss, the rapper James Célestin and Jean-François Dion, were arrested during the police operation called “SCANDALEUX”, which aims to fight against the excesses of organized crime in Quebec.
Still according to our sources, these strikes would significantly weaken the Blood Family Mafia (BFM) in open war with criminal bikers for royalties from the drug market.
- Listen to the interview with Kathryne Lamontagne, investigative journalist at the Quebecor Bureau of Investigation on Alexandre Dubé via QUB radio :
Sunday morning, the Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ) confirmed that it had arrested four suspects, a woman and three men, aged 35 to 40, all linked to organized crime.
The host of the show “JE”, Félix Séguin, claims that soldiers from Turmel are starting to abandon his gang.
Young gang leader Dave “Pic” Turmel appears in a video by hip-hop artist Mizery.
“Screenshot taken from YouTube”
“The soldiers of the clan […] dissociate themselves from this famous Dave Turmel who, for his part, has the good fortune of waging a war in which he does not participate,” he underlines.
Torture chamber
According to other information, a torture chamber was discovered in one of the houses searched by investigators on Sunday in the Beauport sector, a police source told Le Newspaper.
“Photo Agence QMI, Marc Vallières”
These places would have been used to sequester, torture and humiliate enemy drug traffickers.
The seizure of narcotics and bulletproof jackets adds to the arrest of two lieutenants of the boss who is said to have taken refuge in Portugal.
In exile, Turmel allegedly ordered his henchmen to commit the atrocities reported by our Bureau of Investigation.
Lieutenants pinned
The police yesterday arrested the two right-hand men of Dave “Pic” Turmel, who each have a long criminal record, notably for having taken part together in a home invasion in 2015.
Rapper James “Frekent” Célestin.
“Screenshot taken from YouTube”
Rapper James “Frekent” Célestin, 39, faces three charges, including serious assault by wounding, mutilating and disfiguring a victim he allegedly kidnapped on February 4 . He also allegedly committed a kidnapping during another event on February 20.
The Sûreté du Québec also handcuffed Jean-François Dion, 36, who is accused of possession of prohibited ammunition
James Célestin is also known under the artist name “Frekent” on the hip hop scene in the Capitale-Nationale.
Despite his troubles with the law, he continued to produce music in recent years, until last fall when he released his most recent track “Coupez-les”.
In 2017, after leaving prison, he complained in an article in the media Vice that his halfway house recommended that he not have the right to promote or distribute his music. “It is my freedom of expression that is under attack,” he declared.
Suspicious fire
A woman lost her life in a fire that occurred in the basement of a residential building in Quebec City during the night from Saturday to Sunday.
Around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, the Quebec Fire Protection Service (SPCIQ) received calls reporting flames in the basement of a semi-detached building on Johnny-Parent Boulevard, in the Loretteville sector.
At the end of the day yesterday, authorities still could not confirm whether this fatal fire was linked to the drug war. specifying that the blaze was possibly of criminal origin.
Nothing too reassuring for the residents of the area met by The newspaper all of whom declined to comment in the current context.