February 11, 2019 is likely to remain a prominent part of the legal history of the fight against money laundering in Canada as part of the RCMP-led Collector project.
After three years of investigation, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is making a big splash today in Montreal and Toronto by arresting suspects associated with organized crime and the Hells Angels. The large-scale operation mobilizes 300 police officers in Quebec and Ontario.
Organized crime in Montreal has put in place a system to get money out of Quebec that has been acquired by, among other things, the sale of drugs and to pay its drug suppliers through an extremely complex system.
Mail left the city and traveled to the Queen City by car to Toronto exchange offices where the money was laundered, placed abroad or used to pay suppliers of cocaine or chemical drugs.
The money, which comes out of Quebec, is that of the Hells Angels and various pigeons, particularly the Middle Eastern mob. Tens of millions of dollars from drug trafficking are laundered in Canada.
The money laundering network is a Persian network. They are Iranians who relied on an ancestral system, hawala, where money is paid between individuals who trust each other and make the money of organized crime evading any legal trace.