POLICE SWOOP DOWN ON KANESATAKE AND OKA

38 Arrested; Large Pot Bust Ends 18-Month Investigation

Marijuana trafficking in Kanesatake has evolved over the past few
years and has forged new ties between dealers on the territory
northwest of Montreal and other organized crime groups, police alleged
Tuesday.

Surete du Quebec Insp. Lino Maurizio said investigators noticed the
change during an investigation that produced the arrests of 38 people
Tuesday following an 18-month investigation that targeted a group that
allegedly used Kanesatake as a transit point for large quantities of
marijuana ultimately destined for the U.S.

A past investigation, which generated many arrests in May 2009,
focused on people who were growing pot on the many farms in Kanesatake
in mass quantities. Maurizio said he believed that as a result of the
2009 investigation the alleged ringleader targeted in Tuesday's police
operation, dubbed Project Connectivity, was obliged to find marijuana
produced outside of Kanesatake, Maurizio said.

"Project Connectivity was launched in January 2010 and established
that a criminal organization based in Kanesatake spearheaded a major
network involved in the trafficking of controlled substances, mostly
marijuana and also cocaine and designer drugs," he said.

Maurizio said marijuana supplied up the chain of the network was grown
by groups based in the Montreal region and north of Montreal,
including some who could move as much as 50 pounds of pot in one shot.
Maurizio said the marijuana would be sent to "lieutenants" who worked
under the alleged ringleader Tyron Canatonquin, 43, and were based in
Kanesatake and Oka.

Canatonquin, 43, has a long criminal record with 37 case files dating
back to 1987. They include convictions for hash and marijuana
possession, assault, illegal possession of a firearm, conspiracy,
assaulting a police officer and possession of the proceeds of crime.
He was arrested with several people in 2000 as part of a different
large-scale drug trafficking investigation and received a two-year
suspended prison sentence.

Maurizio said some of the marijuana sent to Kanesatake during the
Project Connectivity investigation was transported to Akwasasne with
the goal of using that reserve's shared border with the U.S. and
Canada to smuggle the pot to the American side. Depending on its
quality, and whether it was grown hydroponically or outdoors,
marijuana grown in Quebec can sell for between $800 and $1,200 a
kilogram. In the U.S., the Quebec-grown product can be sold for more
than $4,000, Maurizio said.

"We focused on the Canatonquin organization because our intelligence
told us - plus some information we got from the community - that his
group is one of the more active in drug trafficking in the area,"
Maurizio said he didn't expect to make any huge drug seizures on
Tuesday because the organization, for the most part, did not hold on
to its stock for long.

"The investigation showed that a sample would be sent to Tyron
Canatonquin. When he accepted the drugs, a couple of hours later, the
stash would be sent to Akwasasne."

More than 500 police officers from the SQ, RCMP and various First
Nations police forces took part in Project Connectivity. Police
expected to make 55 arrests in all, but 17 people remained at large as
of late Tuesday. Thirteen search warrants were carried out, including
four in Kanesatake and five in Oka, the municipality next to the
territory. Charges of drug trafficking and conspiracy to do the same
are expected to be filed against most of the people arrested in St.
Jerome court on Wednesday.

"More importantly, we have dismantled a major network and disrupted
its capabilities to use aboriginal territories for criminal purposes.
We want to send a strong message to the criminal organizations that
are detrimental to the interests of the aboriginal communities and
that present a direct threat to the safety of their residents. We can
catch them wherever they are," Maurizio said.

Normally, such large scale police operations are carried out after
dawn, so they can be conducted in daylight and potentially catch the
target of a search warrant off guard. But Tuesday's operation began at
10 a.m.

"It was unusual but it was to ensure that most of the children (living
at homes that were searched) had left (for school) so we'd had the
least movement inside possible," Maurizio said.

Sohenrise Paul Nicholas, Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of
Kanesatake, said while he supports the police operation "in general,"
he couldn't understand why the focus of media attention was centred on
his community alone.

He noted that search warrants were carried out in various
municipalities near Montreal.

"Drug trafficking is not something we condone. This isn't a
community-wide event. This involves a small number of people here, yet
this is drawing a lot of attention on us. It is not just a Mohawk problem."

In reference to comments made at a police news conference about how
people in Kanesatake felt intimidated by drug traffickers, Nicholas
said he felt that things have improved.

"I think we have worked with the SQ on this and the dialogue has
improved in our community."

Through a release issued later Nicholas said the majority of people in
Kanesatake are "concerned that the presence of such a large number of
police, accompanied by journalists, contributes even more to the
negative image of this community that Kanesatake people wish to improve."