A mixed team of police officers and officers from Ontario intercepted a vehicle Monday containing 95 kilograms of cocaine and traveling towards Quebec, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s O (Ontario) Division announced in a press release on Thursday. .
The drugs were packed in 87 packets placed in a black Dodge SUV which was arriving from Cornwall and which was intercepted by members of a unit called the Cornwall Regional Task Force and comprised of the RCMP, the Canada Border Services Agency Canada (CBSA), the Ontario Provincial Police Border Security Task Force (BEST), and the Ministry of Finance.
PHOTO COURTESY RCMP
Such a quantity of drugs would be worth around 2.5 million in the current market.
Three individuals, Kenneth Theodore Merpaw, 53, Joseph Scott Primeau, 47, and Pieter John Veldhoven, 41, all residents of Cornwall, Ontario, have been arrested and charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and conspiracy .
They were due back in court Thursday for their bail hearing.
Toronto-Montreal Corridor
During the year 2022, investigators from the Organized Crime Division (DCO) of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) seized more than 150 kilograms of cocaine which were intended for the Quebec metropolis and which arrived from the Toronto area for the most part.
In at least three major DCO investigations this year, sleuths have had their sights set on a supply line between Toronto and Montreal.
The kilogram of cocaine is currently trading at approximately $27,000, an extremely low price which indicates that the supply would currently be very strong in Montreal and Quebec.
The 95 kilograms seized on Monday near Cornwall would therefore currently be worth around 2.5 million, before the drugs were cut and sold on the street.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.