The war on meth intensifies
Camille Laurin-Desjardins
Le journal de Montréal
May 7th, 2014
Original article in French, I translated it:

Here's a video of the pill press.
Camille Laurin-Desjardins
Le journal de Montréal
May 7th, 2014
Original article in French, I translated it:
The battle against synthetic drugs, which are mostly taken by youth, is intensifying. Yesterday, police busted four networks affiliated with the Hells Angels across the province.
Project Macaque, which began in January 2013, was completed yesterday, as officers from the Quebec provincial police and 16 other police agencies carried out fifty raids in the Montreal region and in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.
The targeted networks were involved in marijuana and cocaine trafficking, but they primarily trafficked synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and ecstasy.
More seizures
Methamphetamine seizures are increasing in Quebec, confirms inspector Patrick Bélanger of the Quebec provincial police, and this is mostly due to the "Strategy for Battling Synthetic Drugs."
"It's a kind of drug taken primarily by youth due to its low cost and its banal appearance in pill form. It is very widespread."
The police also seized, in a Terrebone warehouse, an imposing machine weighing over 2,000 pounds which was used to produce pills. This industrial machine, a "pill press," is the largest ever seen by the Quebec provincial police, and can produce over 80,000 pills per hour.
The operation was carried out in thirty cities. The heads of the networks were situated in Terrebone, Jonquière, Saint-Eustache, Rawdon, and Laval.
"It was an enormous structure, but they were working with outlaw motorcycle clubs: the Hells Angels and the Red Devils," added Bélanger.
Increase in violence
In Saguenay, the battle to control territory has caused a significant proliferation in violence in the past few months. The Quebec provincial police have noted several incidents of arson, kidnapping, confinement, threats, and extortion.
The investigation is ongoing, and more raids should be carried out this evening. By mid-afternoon, yesterday, 69 people had been arrested.
The seizure in numbers
Here's what the police had nabbed by yesterday afternoon. The numbers will continue to climb, as raids were still ongoing this evening.
- 170,000 methamphetamine pills
- 20 kg of methamphetamine powder
- 20,000 cannabis plants
- 14 vehicles
- several kilos of cocaine
- twenty guns
- 300 lbs of marijuana
- $300,000 cash

Here's a video of the pill press.
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