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“We did an investigation that lasted about a year on the criminal organization of Yann Maisonneuve and Hughes Mongeon,” said Dubé, identifying the alleged kingpins of the operation.

“They were trafficking marijuana in the region of Outaouais and also in Ottawa.”

Dubé said investigators discovered a network of nine grow operations in “hidden basements” under residential garages.

“That way you could not see or smell the cannabis plants,” Dubé said.

Police also alleged the network had links to the Hells Angels biker gang.

The investigation, initiated in October 2015, involved more than 100 officers as part of a joint regional squad that includes the SQ, Gatineau police, the Public Security Service of the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais, as well as Ottawa police. The group also collaborated with Revenu Québec and Canada Operations and Financial Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC)

The police released a detailed organizational chart that showed Maisonneuve and Mongeon at the top of the food chain. Both men, police say, own expensive homes and cars in L’Ange Gardien and Gatineau, respectively.

The two leaders, along with Luc Miner and Steve Ross, face gang, drug production, and trafficking, as well as money laundering charges, while the rest will face production, trafficking, and conspiracy charges.

Dubé said the Ottawa connection, Alexandre Beaudry of Orléans, was caught with 40 pounds of drugs and $40,000.