More than 140 orders or warrants requested and obtained, use of at least four double agents, wiretapping, installation of microphones, installation of surveillance cameras, numerous shadowings, hours of viewing of images captured by a hundred cameras, police provocations , analyzes of about twenty cell phones, the computer and the GPS of the suspects’ vehicle; the least we can write is that the Major Crimes investigators of the Montreal Police Department have gone all out to catch the murderers of Meriem Boundaoui.
The 15-year-old girl, who came from Algeria to study in Quebec, was shot and killed at suppertime on February 7, 2021, while she was a passenger in a stationary car at the corner of rue Jean- Talon and Valdombre, in Saint-Léonard.
She was allegedly murdered in the context of a conflict between two merchant families with which she had nothing to do.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Meriem Boundaoui was sitting in this car when she was shot in the left brow bone.
This murder raised a wave of indignation in Quebec and the former director of the SPVM, Sylvain Caron, made it a priority.
In June 2022, a year and five months after the crime, two men, Salim Touaibi and Aymane Bouadi, were arrested and charged with the murder of the teenager and the attempted murder of four other young people who were standing near her.
Stopped a week later
Several months after the crime, relatives of Meriem Boundaoui grew impatient when they saw that the murderers had not yet been arrested, but the police had already had the two men in their crosshairs for a long time, according to public court documents obtained by The Press.
Note, however, that the facts alleged in these court documents and which are reported in this text have not yet been proven in court.
As early as February 10, 2021, less than three days after the murder, thanks to images captured by surveillance cameras, the police had identified the suspects’ vehicle, a white Mercedes, and screenshots had been sent to the 4,400 police officers of the SPVM. The next day, the vehicle was found by patrol officers.
The following March 7, barely a month to the day after the crime, Salim Touaibi was arrested for the murder of the teenager, but was released pending further investigation.
However, his cell phones were seized and their analysis opened other doors for the police.
The following month, double agents approached a member of Aymane Bouadi’s family and succeeded, presumably under a pretext which is not specified in the document, in obtaining contact details for the suspect, which also led to advance the investigation.
The police then identified other individuals with whom the suspects communicated after the murder, some of whom would have helped to erase the traces of the crime.
At the car wash the next day
Analyzing the suspects’ phones and the white Mercedes’ computer and GPS, sleuths found that immediately after the murder at 6:03 p.m., the car drove east on Highway 40 and drove off. was immobilized on the boulevard Perras, where she would have spent the night.
The engine started again at 10:29 a.m. the next morning and the vehicle drove to a car wash in the Rivière-des-Prairies neighborhood known to the police.
The following day, February 9, one individual wrote to another, via text message, that “the cleaning guy [devait] soon to pass”.
Analysis of the Mercedes’ computer also revealed that between January 15 and February 7, 2021, the vehicle was within 500 meters of the Touaibi residence 19 days out of 20, the last time at 5:20 p.m. on February 7, 45 minutes before the crime.
A friendly passenger
In late 2021 and early 2022, surveillance operations and other investigative techniques intensified.
On February 28, investigators requested and obtained a warrant to intercept the communications of ten individuals.
Two months later, the mandate was renewed for seven people until June 25.
On March 18, 2022, Touaibi was arrested for another crime and remained detained.
The police took the opportunity to send him a double agent in the legs, to explore another facet of the investigation.
The next day, Bouadi and a friend flew back from Paris. During the flight home, they befriended a very friendly female passenger sitting in the next seat.
It was an undercover agent who extracted some relevant information.
And is it a coincidence? After landing, Bouadi was selected for a COVID-19 test and had to give his contact details to officials.
The trap closes
In mid-June, investigators met Aymane Bouadi for the first time, for the murder of Meriem Boundaoui.
Then events rushed.
Touaibi, who was already in prison, was officially arrested for the murder of the teenager.
On June 28, the media announced that the police were searching a wooded area in northeast Montreal, looking for clothing and the weapon that was allegedly used in the murder of Meriem Boundaoui.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The police combed through a wooded lot on Gouin Boulevard on June 28, 2022.
In his cell, Touaibi chatted with a stranger.
“Yo! What do you think that means? Someone spoke huh? Luckily, we went back to get the stuff. Do you know where they are now? They are where I put the gun and the clothes,” the officers heard him say.
The following day, Aymane Bouadi was arrested in turn.
In total, the police viewed the images from a hundred surveillance cameras, 37 of which captured scenes relevant to the investigation.
They met about forty witnesses and seized and analyzed more than fifteen cell phones.
As of October 20, 2022, they had requested and obtained 146 orders, warrants, telewarrants and telephone records since the start of the investigation dubbed Merco.
“Due to a lack of collaboration, the investigation took longer and we had to deploy much more complex and heavier investigative means, in terms of the use of resources in the service”, had entrusted to The Press former SPVM Major Crimes Commander Paul Verreault shortly after the suspects were arrested in June 2022.
Also according to the documents, on February 7, 2021, at the end of the afternoon, a meeting was organized between the representatives of the traders in conflict to settle the dispute. These representatives had just made peace and shook hands when the teenager was killed.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.