The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) says a network of suspected Turkish smugglers has been operating to bring mostly Haitian asylum seekers illegally into Quebec over the last few months.
“The investigation started a few months ago,” said Sgt. Hugo Lavoie of the RCMP. “We have members on the border patrolling and they were intercepting migrants and also criminals, and we realized that a lot of them were linked together.”
On Sunday, the RCMP arrested two Turkish nationals allegedly involved in a smuggling scheme near Valleyfield, which saw 11 Haitian asylum seekers intercepted in two cars.
Earlier this month, police intercepted a cube truck after receiving information about a group of 44 migrants planning to cross the border from the United States.
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. Four suspects from Turkey were arrested and are detained.
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“We assume that they had contacts in the us and the migrants, they show up at the Canadian border and they have people waiting for them on our side and those are the individuals from Turkey,” said Sgt. Lavoie.
The RCMP says there are at least 15 incidents they believe are linked.
This comes as Quebec borders are seeing an influx of asylum seekers. Lavoie said the RCMP has had to change their priorities.
“We had to adapt,” he said. “That’s why right now we have between Sherbrooke, Lacolle and Valleyfield, we have members 24/7,” he said.
The difficult terrain, Lavoie said, proves to be tough on asylum seekers, as well as for officers.
“That makes it hard for the RCMP or for the police officers in the field because they get to the border mostly during nights. No lights, nothing to drink, no food often,” he said. “The clothing is not accurate for the weather and they’re by themselves and they have to cross the border.”
He said the dense forests makes it tough to navigate and when migrants suspect police, they flee.
“So the migrants are stuck by themselves and they get intercepted,” he said.
Asylum seekers that are not eligible to enter Canada are returned to the U.S.
