Danny Bouchard, a 35-year-old Montrealer, was arrested and faced 23 charges related to drugs and firearms, and asked to be released on bail.[1] A police source first told investigators last summer that Bouchard was selling drugs “in good quantity”, and an undercover officer contacted him and three days later bought a pound of cannabis.[1] Because Bouchard had no vehicle, the officer picked him up at the metro, and during the trip Bouchard told the officer he could also sell him “pills” and cocaine.[1]

Rather than arrest Bouchard for selling cannabis, officers kept the operation going, buying hashish, methamphetamine and what appeared to be cocaine samples from him.[1] Bouchard also showed the officer photos of firearms and said he could sell them, and later told him he kept a shotgun under a mattress at home.[1] According to the court documents, Bouchard told the officer during the car ride that he had met a new contact in the firearms trade, an Algerian from Cartierville who went by a nickname.[1] Undercover officers obtained an SKS rifle and seven rounds of ammunition from Bouchard for C$4,200, and he showed them photos of 55 pistols offered for sale.[1]

After hearing the evidence, judge Marie-Ève Landreville ordered Bouchard held in pre-trial detention at the Joliette courthouse.[1] Despite his requests to be freed while awaiting trial, the judge kept him in custody, and he is due back in court in mid-June for the next stage of proceedings.[1]