Quebec Hells Angel faces New Brunswick drug charges

A Quebec-based Hells Angel who has long been alleged to be the group’s connection to New Brunswick is expected to appear in court on Wednesday following his arrest in that province on cocaine-trafficking charges.

According a RCMP statement, Emery (Pit) Martin, 57, was arrested Monday morning while he was travelling along the Trans-Canada Highway in Rivière-Verte, a town near Edmundston, N.B.

The RCMP alleged that Martin is the first full-patch member of the gang to be arrested as part of an investigation into “drugs that were entering (New Brunswick) linked back to the Hells Angels in Quebec.” Since April 25, 2018, the investigation has resulted in 15 individuals being arrested.

The investigation in New Brunswick appears to be linked to Project Objection, an investigation led by the Sûreté du Québec that led to the arrests of more than 60 people in Quebec and other provinces in April.

Martin made his first court appearance on a total of 10 charges on Monday. He is charged with conspiracy to traffic in cocaine, possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking, laundering the proceeds of crime and instructing the commission of an offence for a criminal organization.

During the summer of 2015, Martin pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge at the Gouin courthouse in Montreal, and admitted he was part of the Hells Angels’ long and bloody conflict in Quebec with a group of rival organized crime groups. The conflict, commonly referred to as Quebec’s biker gang war, ran from 1994 to 2002. More than 160 people were killed within the context of the conflict, including several innocent victims. Martin was sentenced to time served, the equivalent of a 15year prison term, when he pleaded guilty to being part of the conspiracy to murder rival gang members during the war.

The biker’s criminal record also includes a lengthy sentence he received for his role in a conspiracy to smuggle 27 tonnes of hashish into Canada in 1990 along with several other people. Martin was in charge of one of the boats used to bring the load in. He served a seven-year prison term after he pleaded guilty to being part of the conspiracy to bring the hashish into Canada.