The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) have arrested a fourth suspect in connection with the illegal entry into the country of 44 people intercepted in a cube truck on Aug. 3 near Stanstead.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the RCMP said that authorities arrested Tolga Yilmaz, 34, at Montreal-Trudeau Airport as he was preparing to leave Canada on Aug. 8.
Yilmaz faces the same “two charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and the Customs Act as the three other individuals already arrested,” according to the press release, which states that the individual appeared in court on Aug. 9 and remains in custody pending further proceedings.
‘Horrible’ conditions
RCMP spokesperson Charles Poirier explained on Aug. 4 that police had intercepted a van at around 2:20 a.m. on the night of Aug. 3 to 4, after receiving information about a group of migrants planning to cross the border from the United States.
He specified that among the migrants were a pregnant woman and children as young as four years old.
They were dehydrated, “visibly distraught,” and cramped when the police found them, he added.
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“They were short of air, no one had any water, and with the children and the limited space, they couldn’t sit on the floor, they had to stand,” he explained on Monday during a telephone interview.
“They were left in simply horrible conditions, really.”
Three suspects were arrested
On Aug. 6, Ogulcan Mersin, 25, Dogan Alakus and Firat Yuksek, both 31, appeared via videoconference before Judge Hélène Fabi at the Sherbrooke Courthouse.
Judge Fabi told the three detainees that they were prohibited from contacting, directly or indirectly, a person named Tolga.
If they contacted this individual, the judge warned, further charges would be laid.
Dogan Alakus then explained to Judge Fabi that the person named Tolga was present in the vehicle when the three suspects were arrested.
Jonathan Poirier, a legal aid lawyer representing the three men, advised the suspects “not to speak,” as what they said “could be used against them.”
Ogulcan Mersin, Dogan Alakus, and Firat Yuksek will remain in custody until their next court appearance on Aug. 28.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
