Two more arrested in Saint-Lambert restaurant extortion cases

Longueuil police say two more men have been arrested in connection with a months-long extortion scheme that targeted several restaurants in Saint-Lambert, on Montreal’s South Shore.

The threats involved bullets left in envelopes, arson attempts and threats demanding thousands of dollars.

SPAL investigators made the arrests Thursday morning as part of Project Cabosse, an ongoing case into a crime network police believe was behind the scheme.

The newly arrested suspects are Abdel Camara, 20, who is already in custody at the Montreal detention centre, and Mohamad Jamil Allo, 20, of Montreal.

Police say the investigation began after a 16-year-old was sent into three Saint-Lambert businesses on Aug. 28 — Café Limousine, Cru Bar à Huîtres and Primi Piatti — to deliver envelopes containing bullets and handwritten threats demanding between $5,000 and $7,500.

Within weeks, the threats escalated. An attempted arson was reported at Café Limousine on Sept. 29. The next day, a window at Primi Piatti was smashed, and a fire was set, causing damage in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Officers arrested three people at the time: two 19-year-olds, Elisha Edens Louis and Bastien Beckham Akimana, along with a minor, who cannot be identified.

Police now believe the two newly arrested men played a coordinating role in the scheme.

The investigation is ongoing.