Glocks galore. Beretta galore. Weapons modified on demand with, as a bonus, a high capacity magazine. A phone call and a few meetings in a restaurant are enough to obtain pistols and submachine guns through an illegal dealer network that has fueled street gangs linked to the shootings of the past two years.
Posted at 9:12
Four traffickers, trapped by a double agent, now risk the penitentiary for having carried out this traffic which they nevertheless considered “not so profitable”.
Jérémie Lamontagne, head of the network, pleaded guilty last Monday to several charges related to firearms trafficking. He will receive six years in prison.
The Integrated Arms Trafficking Team (EILTA), through an undercover agent, managed to dismantle this network of traffickers last summer. The police had arrested Lamontagne, a resident of Delson, son of the fire chief. His co-defendants Jonathan Lavigne, Marc-André Lefebvre and Daniel Charléus, were arrested at the end of this operation.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Numerous arrests took place on 1er last June in Delson, Saint-Amable, Longueuil and Montreal with the aim of neutralizing a firearms trafficking network linked to Montreal street gangs.
According to our police sources, the majority of the weapons sold by the quartet were distributed to Montreal street gangs directly linked to the spike in shootings of the past two years.
Gun owners involved
Some legitimate firearm owners colluded with the criminal network, according to court documents obtained by The Press.
The evidence filed in court is a veritable foray into the world of arms trafficking, often in the very words getting its actors trapped by the police.
The devices intended for resale are obtained in two ways: by illegal importation or with the help of accomplices who have legally purchased the weapons. The latter then declare them falsely stolen, and that’s it, says Lamontagne from his first meeting with the EILTA double agent.
Accompanied by a person with a license to carry weapons, Jérémie Lamontagne went to several businesses on the South Shore last winter, according to the summary of the facts presented in court last Monday at the Longueuil courthouse. It’s an overview: the bandit inquires about the purchase of firearms. The following month, he redid his tour with another person, “with the aim that the latter obtain a firearms license”, can we read.
Trapped by a double agent
On a few occasions, Jonathan Lavigne tells the double agent “to be able to get him what he wants. There is even talk of buying a long gun like the AK-47 or AR15.
He mentions “any type of Glock” while showing the undercover officer pictures of weapons on his cell phone. A Glock 19 with a silencer? It’s possible, assures Mr. Lamontagne, adding that he must “check with his guy in Montreal” for the exact price.
He meets this friend the next day. A few minutes later, the double agent receives three photos of weapons and the price of these.
But the friend seems nervous. Lamontagne therefore decides to sell one of his personal weapons to his new client. He pockets $6,250 for a Beretta 92FS, a restricted weapon.
A “low-paying” job, according to Lamontagne
March 2022. Jérémie Lamontagne and his new client are seated at the KEG restaurant in Promenades Saint-Bruno. The arms trafficker speaks to the man he then considers to be a future accomplice in an important delivery: 50 weapons located in New York State must cross the border shortly. These pistols are worth $600 each in the United States. They will sell for between $5,000 and $6,000 in Quebec, ten times more expensive, he said in court documents obtained by La Presse.
The same report indicates that a month later, Mr. Lamontagne sold the double agent an AR15 type weapon and a high-capacity magazine for the sum of $12,500. He explains “that he can have the weapon modified to make it fully automatic. »
The gun dealer pockets another $12,000 from the double agent in exchange for a CZ Scorpio EVO ES1 firearm and high capacity magazine.
Despite these three successful transactions, the resident of Delson says that the arms trade “does not pay off so much”, according to the summary of the facts presented to the court. He does it only to reimburse a sum of money “to certain individuals who threaten to attack his father”, he says. He also admits to having had substance use problems in the past.
Jérémie Lamontagne will probably go to the penitentiary. A six-year prison sentence is suggested by prosecutor Me Ève Malouin and defense lawyer Me Phillip Schneider.
His accomplices Marc-André Lefebvre and Jonathan Lavigne also pleaded guilty in this case.
Daniel “Zoe Kot” Charléus, close to gang leader Jean-Philippe Célestin, is their alleged accomplice. The 28-year-old’s trial is scheduled for mid-November.