Police bust drug ring around park in St-Laurent

ST-LAURENT – For the first time in a long time, parents and children were back playing at Painter Park in St-Laurent on Thursday. “We now feel safe,” Mina Serraqui told Global News.

For months, the park was a place families avoided because it was the home base for a gang of alleged drug dealers called the 64’s.

On Wednesday, police moved in and twenty-one young men were arrested and charged with drug and fraud related counts. Police allege the suspects were also involved in bank card scams. Inside a number of homes, investigators seized sophisticated copying devices.

“A lot of equipment to fraud in different banks and businesses too,” Montreal Police spokesperson Martin Renaud said.

Eleven of the twenty-one suspects appeared at the Montreal Courthouse Thursday afternoon. The remaining 10 suspects were released by police Wednesday evening.

Among their release conditions was a warning to stay away from Painter Park.

Schoolteacher Akim Bouraki is happy with the news of the bust. He teaches at nearby Ecole Andre-Beaulieu – located a few steps from the park. “Students from the school go there during their lunch hour. Their safety was something we constantly worried about”, he says.

Commander Renaud reminds Montrealers the big bust was thanks to tips from citizens. He encourages more residents to do the same – to clean up “other” neighbourhoods.