A man from Laval was among 26 people who were arrested recently during a province-wide police operation cracking down on child pornography.
Led by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) along with major police forces, including the Laval Police, the operation took place simultaneously in New Brunswick and Ontario, involving the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
In Quebec, arrests were made in Laval, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Repentigny, Saint-Jérôme, Terrebonne, Saint-Hyacinthe, Drummondville, Quebec City, Acton Vale, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Sherbrooke, Val-d’Or, Rouyn-Noranda, Gatineau, Longueuil, St-Georges, Beauceville and Cap-Santé.
Those arrested in Quebec, between the ages of 17 and 84, were taken into custody by up to 300 police officers and support personnel deployed across the province. The suspects face charges of production, possession, distribution and accessing child pornography.
Police investigate death of 30-year-old man in Laval
A 30-year-old man died last Saturday night after being shot multiple times in Laval.
Police say they received a call about a fight around 11 p.m. Marc Issa El Khoury was found dead at the scene on the corner of Saint-Martin and de Blois boulevards in the Duvernay neighbourhood, outside a reception hall where he had been attending a celebration.
According to Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Camille Savoie, El Khoury was known to police. According to reports, he was acquitted last year of murdering a Hells Angels member in Ontario.
The SQ also found a burned-out car in Montreal a short time later and are trying to determine if there was a link with the death in Laval.
Laval Police dealing with sixth murder of 2023
Investigators with the Laval Police are dealing with one of the city’s latest homicides following the fatal stabbing of a woman at a home near the corner of rue Paradis and boulevard Saint-Elzéar in Vimont.
The LPD received a 9-1-1 call at around 5:30 pm on Nov. 23. When they arrived, they found a 61-year-old woman who had been stabbed multiple times.
After being taken to hospital by ambulance, she was declared dead. A 30-year-old male, identified by Radio-Canada as Jérôme Frigault of Caraquet NB, was arrested and was said to be related to the victim, according to the LPD.
According to La Presse, the woman, identified as Mireille Martin, had contacted the LPD more than an hour before the stabbing to report she was being threatened by the assailant who was her nephew. He lived in a unit of the duplex which she owned.
‘Illegal’ currency exchange operator from Laval charged by RCMP
The RCMP says it has filed charges against two individuals, one of whom is from Laval, who allegedly made illegal monetary transactions totaling more than $20 million.
Said Aimeur, 55, of Laval, and Nesreddine Atoui, 58, of Montreal, allegedly used a scheme to collect and move funds clandestinely from Canada to Algeria, mainly via China, according to the RCMP.
The investigation by the federal police force was conducted by Integrated Proceeds of Crime (IPOC), a federal public safety ministry unit, focusing on a 13-month period.
It began in December 2021, says the RCMP, when IPOC received information from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC), a federal government financial intelligence unit, related to suspicious banking transaction statements.
“The two men are each facing a charge under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act for operating an unregistered money services business,” the RCMP says in a statement.
According to the force, they face imprisonment for up to five years and/or a fine of up to $500,000. They are scheduled to make a first appearance at the Montreal courthouse on December 1.
Arrest made after LPD officer hit by car during vehicle pursuit
A Laval Police Dept. officer suffered serious injuries but was expected to survive after being struck by a car on Autoroute 15 between Laval and Montreal while pursuing a suspect on foot.
Around 2:30 am on Nov. 27, two LPD officers in a patrol car noticed a vehicle southbound on the A-15 with headlights off and a rear window shattered. After the officers began following the vehicle, the suspect driver pulled over on the Médéric Martin bridge where he abandoned the car and fled on foot.
Running onto the northbound lanes of the A-15, he was intercepted by the police, but one of the officers was then struck by an oncoming vehicle. After being taken into custody, it was determined that the suspect may have been impaired while at the wheel of his vehicle.