A Quebec man linked to social media accounts that spoke of taking weapons to Parliament to “clean up house” has been charged after RCMP officers raided his homes and allegedly found 18 firearms.
Raymond Têtu, a 51-year-old resident of Val-des-Monts, Que., about 40 kilometres north of Ottawa, was arrested on Jan. 20 but RCMP only announced the charges Tuesday, after he appeared in court.
Court documents obtained by Global News allege the firearms included Thompson and Lanchester submachine guns, silencers and brass knuckles.
Quebec news outlets tied him to the Twitter and Facebook accounts of a man by the same name who is a supporter of the People’s Party of Canada and Donald Trump.
The Twitter account referred to COVID-19 as a “scamdemic,” and a Jan. 2 post, responding to a video of a police raid in Gatineau for allegedly violating lockdown measures, read: “Start shooting the police, this is as bad as home invasion.”
“It will be soon time to take arms to parliament and clean up house,” read another Twitter post.
On Facebook, he wrote that “civil war is needed…Fellow canadians buy as many guns as possible, you will need them to save your country.”
Some of his Facebook posts were labelled “false information” by the social media company.
The RCMP said its Airport and Federal Investigations Detachment executed a search warrant of Têtu’s home last week and found guns, drugs and counterfeit U.S. banknotes.
More firearms were found at a second residence in Gatineau, police said.
“A total of 18 firearms were seized, including an assault rifle and a Thompson sub-machine gun. Four gun silencers and a few thousand dollars of counterfeit U.S. bank notes were also seized,” RCMP said.
Têtu has been charged with possession of prohibited devices, importation of prohibited devices, possession of counterfeit U.S. money and “other related offenses,” the RCMP said.
He is in custody and returns to court on Friday.
Stewart.bell@globalnews.ca
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