A 74-year-old man who was persuaded to act as a mule for the Hells Angels by transporting coke to New Brunswick will spend the next two years behind bars.
“The accused was recruited precisely for his profile, which places him free from all suspicion. What is more, the nature and the quantity of the drug as well as the appreciable sum of money which were entrusted to him testify to the confidence placed in him by the criminal organization ”, supported the judge Éric Côté, by condemning Raymond Bertrand.
He pleaded guilty to counts of trafficking and possession of cocaine, conspiracy, money laundering and concealment at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse.
Bertrand was caught in 2017 during the “J-Thunder” investigation, led by the Sûreté du Québec’s National Organized Crime Repression Squad and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, concerning the trafficking of coke in the northern New Brunswick.
Coke from Quebec
The investigation shows that “the cocaine distributed comes from Quebec. […] People associated with the Hells Angels of the Montreal chapter ensure the supply ”, one can read in the recent decision of the court.
Authorities have observed delivery men on several occasions to the residence of a certain Danny Smith. Bertrand was one of them.
The latter was seen exchanging bags with Smith and left.
The police stopped him soon after, and he had $ 216,000 in his possession.
A search of the man where he had just deposited the drugs revealed 4 kg of coke and several elements allowing it to be trafficked.
Retired for nearly 10 years and without a criminal record, Bertrand was approached by the son of a friend, Bruno Lupien, whom he considered “like his own son”.
« [Il] asks him to render him a service for which he will be generously remunerated, ”indicates the decision.
Although the accused knew he was going to carry drugs, he only went to the address given to him and did not ask to know more “because it is not in its priorities ”.
Willful blindness
Bertrand, however, admitted to regret and “to be ashamed of the crimes committed”.
“The Court is astonished that an individual without history, aged 71 at the time of the events, could allow himself to be so blindly drawn into an adventure of the sort”, commented Justice Côté.
He recalled that mules, even if they play a secondary role in a criminal organization, are “essential to the success of their lucrative activities”.
Despite his age, the magistrate therefore sentenced Raymond Bertrand to two years in prison this week for his involvement in drug trafficking.
– With Christian Plouffe
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