A Gatineau police officer has received a six-day suspension without pay for making racist comments while arresting a Muslim man almost five years ago.

Const. Charles Carpentier made the comments to Walid Benmoussa during a drug-related bust on Aug. 16, 2012. The officer was found guilty of several offences by Quebec's police ethics committee in July 2014.

In a penalty decision dated July 18, 2017, the committee wrote that Benmoussa was arrested during a drug bust that resulted from a drug trafficking investigation into his friend.

Benmoussa was found to be in possession of one gram each of hashish and marijuana.

He was handcuffed and brought into a Gatineau police cruiser, where Carpentier told Benmoussa: "Tu pues de la yeulle estie de rapace." There is no direct translation of the French phrase, but it roughly translates to "You f---ing parasite, your breath stinks."

Benmoussa replied his breath was bad because it was Ramadan and he had been fasting all day.

Carpentier replied: "Vous les Arabes, vous êtes des esties de rapace," which translates roughly into "You Arabs, you're all f---ing parasites."

Carpentier has been an officer since November 2008.

Benmoussa pleaded guilty to drug possession charges and received an absolute discharge in June 2014.

Read the committee's penalty decision in French here.