MONTREAL - Eleven people were arrested Thursday after an anti-drug operation in north-east Montreal.
A dozen Italian cafes were searched and inspected by police, who were aiming to dismantle a network of heroin and cocaine traffickers linked to the Italian mafia.
Police arrested nine men and two women, and seized drugs worth tens of thousands of dollars along with $6,300 in cash, contraband cigarettes and accountants' books.
Police grabbed the suspected leader in the operation; a man they will not identify, but believe is linked to the Italian mafia.
"I can't tell you it's only one clan… It could be Calabrese or Sicilian. So many of them are related to Sicilian gangs," said Cmdr. Denis Mainville of the Montreal police organized crime division.
Those arrested will face charges of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking, but none faces gangsterism charges.
The network had a weekly turnover estimated at $70,000, said police.
Customers communicated with their dealer by sending a code to a pager number. They used bars as meeting points, said police.
"The runners would send you another code to tell you the corner where he's going to deliver you the dope," explained Mainville.
The bust was jointly conducted by the Montreal police, Surete du Quebec and the RCMP.
Police said they acted quickly to avoid any more firebombings. Nineteen arsons, mostly on Italian cafes, were linked to organized crime and the drug trade, said police.
With files from The Canadian Press
