Targeted in federal police investigations in two countries. Their actions tracked by a mole at the heart of the plots. Cocaine imports uncovered or delivered directly by RCMP double agents. The three Quebecers arrested in spectacular fashion in Peru in February 2023 were trapped on all sides, reveal recently made public court documents obtained by The Press.
The arrests of Frédéric Dewald, Francis Toupin-Bergevin and Bô-Soleil Morin-Lachance made headlines in February 2023.
Peruvian police had burst into the condo they had rented in the capital, Lima, and arrested them. military manuThe spectacular operation was filmed and broadcast on television and social media.
Dewald, 26, was charged with drug trafficking. He remains in custody and awaiting trial. He faces 15 to 18 years in prison. Toupin-Bergevin, 36, has not yet been charged. Until that decision is made, he is free but is unable to leave Peru.
Finally, Morin-Lachance, 28, was released and will soon be returning to Quebec, if he has not already done so.
The three men were not only the subject of a drug investigation in Peru, but were also targeted in a project by the Combined Forces Special Investigation Unit on Organized Crime (CFSEU) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Quebec.
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Warrants made public last week shed more light on what led to their arrests in Peru, and show that police from both countries exchanged information and services during their respective investigations.
Failures are piling up
The first event in the case is the discovery, on March 11, 2022, at José-María-Córdova Airport in Rionegro, Colombia, of six kilograms of cocaine hidden in trinkets, porcelain elephants. The package was intended for a Quebecer, an employee of the Air Transat company, clearly targeted in the RCMP investigation.
PHOTO FILED IN COURT
These elephants did not fool the Colombian customs officers who found six kilograms of cocaine in these trinkets.
A week later, another seizure of 6 kg of cocaine, this time hidden in small clowns, was made at the same airport. The package was intended for an individual whose telephone number was associated with Frédéric Dewald, according to court documents.
PHOTO FILED IN COURT
Six kilograms of cocaine were found in these clowns, which were clearly decorated by an amateur.
On June 13, 2022, 20 kg were discovered in metal boxes at Jorge Chavez Airport in Lima, Peru. The boxes were intended for a numbered company linked to Frédéric Dewald and were to be shipped to the latter’s former address in Brossard.
PHOTO FILED IN COURT
The 20 kg of cocaine discovered in metal boxes at Jorge Chavez airport in Lima, Peru.
Dewald was in Peru at the time of the seizure. The next day, he returned to Canada and was immediately arrested at Trudeau airport for attempting to import cocaine. His phone, the contents of which revealed possible corruption at Canadian customs – but which was never identified according to our information – was seized by the RCMP, who then conducted an investigation called Cache.
Dewald is released pending further investigation.
A mole far from blind
But for its part, following the seizure of June 13, the Peruvian federal police also launched an investigation and recruited an undercover civilian agent (ACI).
He acts as a facilitator between a certain Pedro Armando Hoyos Pardo, who says he has a contact in the jungle to ship kilos of cocaine, and Dewald.
IMAGE FROM THE PERUVIAN BROADCAST PANORAMA
The three Quebecers were photographed during a surveillance by the Peruvian police.
On August 27, 2022, 31 kg of cocaine hidden in metal curtain rods from Peru were seized at Toronto Pearson Airport.
This importation was apparently uncovered thanks to the involvement of the ACI.
Playing the trap
On November 28, 2022, the ACI met with Hoyos Pardo and Dewald and offered them the services of an individual who was in reality an RCMP double agent to help them with their projects.
A month later, a quantity of 6 kg arrives in Canada and the ACI offers the services of another person to act as an intermediary between the reception of the kilos and the individual who must collect them. The trap closes even more, because this person is another double agent of the RCMP.
In January 2023, another import of 30 kg is organized.
Unknowingly, Dewald is directly conducting cryptocurrency transactions with one of the RCMP’s double agents.
On Dewald’s phone, investigators found a message exchange in which he asked a relative to remind him of a 12-word phrase he had previously given him; the 12-word sequence is a cryptocurrency account recovery password, police said.
The 1er February 2023, the 30 kg – which in reality consisted of very little real cocaine – were delivered to another accomplice in Rivière-Beaudette, by a third RCMP double agent.
Flying phones
It was on that same day that the three Quebecers were arrested in Peru. In the Lima condo, Peruvian police seized seven cell phones, two of which had been thrown out of a window.
They also found in a currency exchange office a passport in the name of Ysmaël Rodrigues Da Costa, but with a photo of Dewald.
PHOTO FILED IN COURT
The photo of Frédéric Dewald appears on a passport in the name of Ysmaël Rodrigues Da Costa found in a currency exchange office in Peru.
Dewald, Toupin-Bergevin and Morin-Lachance have links to each other in certain companies.
They are not charged in Quebec and the evidence contained in the court documents has not been tested in court. Arrests are expected, however.
In November 2023, Dewald’s former home in Brossard was riddled with bullets.
To contact Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.