BIKER NEWS: Cops arrest pair they claim are key players in crime ring

BN- Police arrested two men Wednesday whom they described as key players in a crime ring that included members of biker gangs, a strip club with prostitutes, and several drug pushers.

The arrests took place in Mercier, on the South Shore.

A 47-year-old man described as the ringleader was arrested at his home on Vallée St. and released on a promise to appear in court, Longueuil police Constable Gaétan Durocher said.

The charges he faces were not known Wednesday.

The man is alleged to have been the head of a drug distribution and organized crime ring covering Mercier, Châteauguay and St. Isidore.

The second man, 45, is alleged to have been a key drug salesperson in the ring. He was arrested at his home on Sauvé St.

He was being detained and was arraigned on drug charges by video conference from the Valleyfield courthouse.

Police said they seized $7,000 in cash, 10 pills of methamphetamine, 100 grams of cocaine, a weigh scale and cutting machine, documents related to organized crime and drug trafficking, a video surveillance camera, a computer, several cellphones, a fake pistol and accounting documents.

Officers with Longueuil and Châteauguay police, as well as the Sûreté du Québec, participated in the operation as part of a regional task force.

The operation brings to 13 the number of people arrested in the past month who are alleged to have been part of the same network, Durocher said.

On April 21, police arrested four people, ages 24 to 68, on drug-related offences. They are alleged to have ties to street gangs.

On May 6, three strippers and two clients were arrested at the Paradise Club in Mercier, which police allege was a common bawdy house.