The violence that the Quebec Drug War has created since its start only seems to be spreading. In the past few months, a lot of these events have started to take place in the region of the Cote-Nord, a passageway north of the Saint Lawrence seaway. This morning, a major police operation was executed in Quebec City and Riviere-du-Loup, stemming from investigations that had started way back in November.
What started in Quebec City and in the Chaudieres Appalaches, grew to the Saguenay region, and then onto the Cote-Nord. A lot of the crimes in relation to the drug war in Saguenay, or even the Cote-Nord were committed by individuals who have no relation to the city or town they were committing the crime in. For example, the kidnapping attempt which occurred in downtown Alma in August, where 6 suspects were arrested, half of them were members of the Profit Boys (Profit Kollectaz), including high-ranking member Kensey ‘Ryder’ Apollon. The Profit Boys are a prominent street gang coming out of the RDP borough of Montreal.
The Wednesday Raids
Early this morning (29/01/2025) the SPVQ, SQ and two other police forces executed 6 search warrants, with the help of the GTI (Tactical Intervention Group; Quebec’s answer to a SWAT team), which led to 6-8 arrests (LaPresse reports 8 arrests while TVA & Journal de Quebec report 6 arrests). These 6 seizures took place in 3 different towns; the Saint Sauveur borough of Quebec City, more notably on Rue Bagot, Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, a town neighboring the whole of Quebec City and finally in Riviere-du-Loup, a town located 2 hours east of Quebec City on Highway 20.
Last November, the SPVQ told the media they had something in the works. We can only assume that this operation is what they were talking about since the allegations and accusations stem from the very same month. Other arms-trafficking accusations stem from last week, most notably between January 13th to January 17th. After all was said and done, authorities had a plentiful bounty.
All-in-all, authorities seized…
- 24 firearms.
- 13 sawed-off gun barrels.
- 10 high-capacity magazines.
- Dozens of boxes of ammunition.
- 1 taser gun.
- Over 30,000 methamphetamine tablets.
- Over 500 grams of cocaine.
- 1 gram of crystal meth.
- 11 cell phones.
- 1500$ in cash.
The Suspects Arrested
These raids were clearly aimed at crippling the Blood Family Mafia, with even having the ex-brother-in-law of All Boivin, 46-year-old Marc Cossette, being arrested around the same time of the raids. Jeffrey Morin, 26-years old, was another individual arrested in the batch of people charged. He was the son of Jennifer Morin. Jennifer Morin was murdered in her Charlesbourg apartment on the 15th of December of 2024, only over a month ago. It’s hard to think this murder wasn’t simply just a case of ‘femicide’, given Jennifer Morin’s drug-trafficking past.
Jennifer Morin was 45-years-old at the time of her death. She was found dead in her apartment on Boulevard Louis-VIX, with multiple marks of physical violence berated all throughout her body. If we look deeper into her past, we find out she was arrested in December of 2021 for being part of a drug-trafficking ring headed by Cedric Duchaine. Duchaine is a rising crime figure in the city of Quebec, a prominent drug dealer and a convicted murderer. An associate of BFM.
The more shocking part about this takedown, was the fact that her son, Jeffrey Morin, was arrested alongside her. The operation the mother and son duo had fallen victim to, was one launched in the frame of Project MALSAIN, a project authorities had launched to tackle drug-trafficking throughout the region of the nation’s capital. 9 people were arrested, as well as 4 kilos of coke seized, 3.4 kilograms of cannabis, a firearm and 180,000$ dollars in cash money.
Jeffrey Morin was arrested Wednesday morning, with SWAT banging on a Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures house, a house in which Morin was renting the basement out. Funnily enough, his landlords, the owners of the house, were quite shocked to hear that Morin was arrested in such an operation given his calm nature.
It is unclear whether Marc Cossette was another suspect who was arrested in the sweep. Cossette was arrested Tuesday (28/01/2025) night. The 46-year-old man was a fugitive who had been on the run since police knocked on his door on Rue Saint-Dominique in Jonquiere nearly two years ago. He was released on a promise to appear in court after being handed a drug-trafficking charge. He never did show up. Cossette is the ex-brother-in-law of All Boivin, a relationship we can assume he kept. Boivin is on BOLO’s top 25, standing at number two at 35-years-old, right under Dave ‘Pic’ Turmel, who is even younger. Both fugitives have a penchant for disliking a certain 10% drug tax imposed by the 1%er MCs on the eastern side of the province.
Cossette was deemed by a judge of being a ‘regular defendant of the courts’, finding himself behind the judge’s gavel many times, with his last court date taking place in June of 2023. That time he was being accused of animal cruelty, where he was ordered to pay 525$ of vet bill, after his wife came back home to find her dog in critical condition. The man has had past charges relating to assault, breaking his parole, drug-trafficking and domestic violence.
A short while earlier he had been accused of criminal harassment of his ex-wife. These claims only date a few weeks earlier from the animal cruelty charge, occurring in August of 2023. He also played part in intimidating her into withdrawing the claims for a lump sum of money. He ramped up his threats after an ex of his threatened to leave him.
Two other suspects arrested were mentioned to the public today. Maxime Lagace, a 30-year-old native of Riviere-du-Loup who faces accusations of arms-trafficking, as well as Dayvon Costner; who was charged with drug-trafficking.
It’s a wonder whether any more information will spill out to the public following this slew of arrests. It’s also a wonder whether Cossette was arrested in part of this operation which was spaced out less than 12 hours away.
