KANESATAKE WOMAN RAN DRUG RING, POLICE SAY

'Exported to U.S.'; 36 Held on Charges of Moving Pot, Ecstasy

In an operation dubbed Project Cleopatra because it targeted a wealthy
and powerful woman alleged to have alliances with important figures in
organized crime, the RCMP has busted what it described as a major
drug-trafficking ring.

Sharon Simon, 48, was arrested at her luxury home in Kanesatake
yesterday morning as part of an operation that involved more than 350
police officers, including members of the Aboriginal Combined Forces
Special Enforcement Unit.

Simon's home, with features like a three-car garage, stands out among
others on Simon St., a dirt road in the Mohawk community about 50
kilometres west of Montreal.

The house was placed under a seizure order and could be confiscated as
the proceeds of crime.

Thirty-five other people were also arrested yesterday, and 42 search
warrants were executed in Greater Montreal, the Eastern Townships and
Saskatchewan.

The RCMP also used the name of the legendary Egyptian queen because it
begins with a C; all investigations initiated by the Mounties' C
Division, based in Westmount, are labelled with a word that begins
with C.

Residents of Kanesatake described Simon as an outsider who kept mostly
to herself.

Simon is alleged to be the head of the network that focused on
exporting marijuana and ecstasy to the United States, said Cpl.
Sylvain L'Heureux, an RCMP spokesperson.

She has "very close ties" to members of the Hells Angels in Montreal,
Sherbrooke and Trois Rivieres and to other organized crime groups, he
added.

Simon is alleged to have used the biker gang's well-established
drug-trafficking routes to move large quantities of illicit drugs.

L'Heureux said the network exported about 45 kilograms of marijuana to
the United States per week, principally by truck.

Simon's other alleged contacts included two former members of the
Magog municipal police. The two were among those arrested yesterday.

One of the two, Carl Thomas, 44, of Magog Township, is alleged to have
co-ordinated the network's shipments across the border as it smuggled
marijuana and ecstasy through points between Coaticook, in the Eastern
Townships, and Cornwall, Ont.

Simon is also alleged to have used other organized crime contacts to
launder $4.8 million U.S. from January to May through more than 30
transactions the RCMP recorded at money exchange counters.

The investigation began in April 2005. In October, officers with the
aboriginal police unit seized six firearms and more than $1 million in
a vehicle driven by Simon.

According to the RCMP, Simon's 21-year-old daughter, Annie Arbic of
Laval, was among those arrested yesterday.

Simon's arrest yesterday and the incident in 2005 were not her first
run-ins with the law. In 1995, she and seven other people were
arrested as suspects in the attempted hijacking of a truck loaded with
cigarettes in Dorval.

She was accused of conspiracy to commit robbery, but the charges were
stayed a month after her arrest. Her partner, Andre Lagarde, was
sentenced to two years less a day for his role in the botched hijacking.

More recently, Simon and Lagarde were accused of producing and
trafficking in marijuana in Kanesatake in 2001. She pleaded guilty to
producing marijuana, was fined $35,000 and sentenced to two years
probation. Lagarde failed to show up for court dates in the same case
in 2002, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

"The 'head office' was in Kanesatake and the drugs were distributed to
the U.S., mainly by road," L'Heureux said. "We're talking about an
organization that was very well structured and that has been in place
for a long time."

The search warrant served in Saskatchewan involved a location where
the police suspect the network was supplied with key ingredients to
manufacture ecstasy.

The people arrested are expected to appear in court today in Montreal
and Sherbrooke, where they face charges of producing and exporting
drugs, conspiracy and gangsterism.