Investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Ontario arrested on Friday, in the Toronto area, individuals who allegedly supplied cocaine to criminal organizations in the Montreal area in recent years, sources told La Presse.
The alleged leader of the ring, Eyob Haile-Michael, 36, of Toronto, faces charges of importing and trafficking cocaine, conspiracy to import and traffic cocaine and possession of property obtained by crime.
According to our information, Haile-Michael was literally living in a luxury hotel in the Queen City before his arrest.
His three alleged accomplices, Hillaway Haile-Michael, 40, Nuriya Kemal, 32, and Abigail Bergman, 22, all of Toronto, have been charged with possession of property obtained by crime.
In addition to these arrests, officers from the Toronto North Transnational Serious and Organized Crime Section (RCMP) seized, as proceeds of crime, over $800,000 in Canadian currency, 88 units of Ether cryptocurrency, an SUV Mercedes-Benz G-Class 2022 and more than 2 million in jewelry, watches and other luxury items.
In its press release, the RCMP highlighted the collaboration of the Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), police forces in Barrie, Brantford and Toronto, and the Center d’analyse des Financial Transactions and Reports of Canada (FINTRAC).
A Toronto-Montreal corridor
Last year, investigators from the Organized Crime Division (OCD) of the SPVM seized more than 150 kilograms of cocaine in various investigations and found that the majority of this drug came from the Toronto area.
They got their hands on 80 of those 150 kilograms during a single project called Auxo and which they suspect the drugs seized were imported and supplied by the organization dismantled by the Toronto-area RCMP on Friday.
The latest news is that a kilogram of cocaine was trading at a price of around $30,000 in Montreal, compared to $45,000 before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, “which shows that the supply is great” currently, Commander Francis Renaud of the SPVM’s DCO told La Presse before Christmas.
The alleged leader of the group dismantled in the Auxo investigation, Emmanuel Roy-Puthyra, is still wanted.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SPVM
Emmanuel Roy-Puthyra is still wanted by the police.
The 35-year-old man is facing charges of gangsterism, drug trafficking and possession of weapons for the purpose of trafficking.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of La Presse.