MONTREAL -- Police agencies across Quebec have been out in force in recent weeks targetting vehicle gatherings in parking lots and suped up cars and trucks driving with illegal vehicle modifications.

The Surete du Quebec issued a news release Saturday with the results of "Operation Turbo," which targeted vehicles in several municipalities.

In addition to the Montreal police (SPVM), Longueuil (SPAL), Repentigny, Assomption/Saint-Sulpice, Saint-Jerome, Blainville, Thérèse-de-Blainville, Saint-Eustache, Terrebonne, Mascouche, and Mirabel police departments collaborated in the operation.

According to the SQ release, drivers have been arrested for non-compliant modifications, but especially for criminal offences related to dangerous driving and "actions likely to endanger the life and safety of others."

A major coordinated operation was carried out on Friday evening, when all the police forces involved intervened in various large commercial parking lots, where these gatherings take place.

According to the information provided by the SQ, more than 100 drivers have been stopped and more than 100 tickets have been distributed. One of the offenders was ticketed for excessive speeding and another was arrested for driving while impaired by drugs.

-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2020.