Business people located on rue Saint-Germain, in the borough of Saint-Laurent, witnessed a scene worthy of a disaster or science fiction film Thursday morning: police officers from the Royal Gendarmerie of Canada, dressed in protective suits, searched a premises as part of the dismantling of a clandestine synthetic drug laboratory.
Police officers from the RCMP’s Clandestine Laboratory Response Unit don this suit in case they come into contact with dangerous products, which was not the case Thursday morning.
The search was carried out as part of an investigation by the Joint Organized Crime Investigation Unit (UMÉCO) of Division C (Quebec) of the RCMP.
Three other searches were also carried out in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Rosemont and Lachine boroughs, and around forty police officers in total participated in them.
Five individuals were arrested, but they were released pending further investigation. They are expected to appear in court at a later date to likely be charged with production of controlled substances and production of controlled substances for the purpose of trafficking.
The names of the suspects have not been released. We do not know the quantities of products and drugs seized, nor the nature of the equipment found.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Officers from the RCMP’s Clandestine Laboratory Response Unit were the first to enter the premises housing the clandestine laboratory and cautiously examined what was inside.
It is not known whether the dismantled network is connected to a criminal organization.
According to police officer Érique Gasse, spokesperson for the RCMP, it would perhaps take investigators another two days to inventory the items found in the laboratory.
The federal police could take stock of the searches on Friday.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.