Five arrested in Quebec for allegedly stealing telecommunications services

On Tuesday, the SQ conducted the second phase of an operation targeting entities whose members are suspected, among other things, of stealing telecommunications services. LA PRESSE CANADIENNE/Peter McCabe

Quebec provincial police conducted the second phase of an operation Tuesday targeting entities whose members are suspected, among other things, of stealing telecommunication services, fraud and money laundering.

Five people were arrested in connection with the alleged offences in Gatineau and Longueuil, as well as in Saint-Eustache and Brownsburg-Chatham, in the Laurentians.

The Sûreté du Québec's Criminal Asset Recovery Office (BRAC) had previously conducted searches in May 2023.

Police said further arrests are expected.

The SQ said subscribers or customers of entities posing as AruboxTV and StockerIPTV, or who may have been in possession of a terminal from one of these entities, are not targets of the current criminal investigation.

However, these terminals could be used to fraudulently obtain telecommunications services. Possession and use of such a device may therefore constitute an offence under the Criminal Code.

Subscribers are therefore asked by police to return their terminals to an official drop-off point of the Quebec electronics recycling program.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published  in French on Feb. 20, 2024.