On 10 May 2006, 300 kilometres off the coast of Angola, an import cell of Montreal’s West End Gang handed 22.5 tonnes of hashish to a ship secretly crewed by undercover RCMP officers.[1] The 989 bales had sailed from Pakistan in metallic coffee packets and were caught on video as the mostly Filipino crew hoisted them across.[1] The RCMP called the haul six times the amount of hashish seized in or en route to Canada the year before, worth $225 million at $10 a gram.[1]
Officers spent 43 days at sea bringing the drugs to Canada while the frigate HMCS Fredericton trailed at a distance, then delivered them to a house in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, about 50 kilometres southeast of Montreal, on 2 June.[1] There they arrested Peter Toman, 59, his son Andrew, 24, and Sidney Lallouz, 57, all of Montreal, on importation, conspiracy and trafficking charges.[1] Toman’s group had paid the undercover crew C$195,000 in expenses and promised $9 million on delivery after an 18-month investigation by Halifax and Montreal officers.[1]
On 15 August 2006 Peter Toman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import drugs and trafficking and was sentenced to 11 years in a federal prison; the judge noted he had no previous drug record.[2] His son-in-law Shawn Daoust received four years for plotting to truck the shipment from Halifax to Montreal, while Andrew Toman and Lallouz, who also pleaded guilty, awaited sentencing.[2]
