The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 5

A5 THE GAZETTE. MONTREAL, FRIDAY, APRIL 11. 1997 i I 4 U1M II ill Surtax foe, 2 allies fined for clash with riot police i i I I4 I 1 1 -r -Hi: II with riot police during a demonstration opposing the city's surtax on nonresidential properties. Sergakis had Montreal tax protester Peter Ser-gakis was fined $500 yesterday after found guilty last month of ob i.iliii 111 structing police during a clash with riot-squad officers at city hall on April 5, 1993. Quebec Court Bernard Bilodeau also fined Ronald Donalley.

a supporter of Sergakis, $300 for obstructing justice during the same incident, and fined Athanasios Metaxas, another Sergakis backer, $125 for disturbing the peace The lawyers for all three men had asked for absolute or conditional discharges. organized 28 city-hall protests against the surtax by the time he and three colleagues were arrested. In September 1993, the surtax was declared unconstitutional in a 77-page Quebec Superior Court ruling by Justice Pierre Tessien The Quebec Court of Appeal later overturned that judgment The case is before the Supreme Court of Canada. Despite the court challenge, the current administration of Mayor Pierre Peter Sergakis Led protest Sergakis, the owner of several commercial buildings and a west-end strip club, has said he probably will appeal his conviction. The convictions stem from a clash Bourque has pledged to eliminate the surtax and has already reduced revenues from the tax to $21 million this year from $110 million annually TEDD CHURCH, GAZETTE Constable Louise Gagne guards contraband as police showcase 353 kilograms of cocaine they seized.

Weapons in drug bust studied Police looking for links to biker-gang war JAMES MENHIE THE GAZETTE F-44 Reg. Price 229 rieg. Knee 199" Demo Skates on as low as ou Demo Skates qq as low as H5 r-i r-i: lion in illegal profit to biker gangs. Three of the six people charged -Robert Johnson, Stephane Blaquiere and Paul Fontaine were described yesterday by police as being affiliated with the Hell's Angels. Johnson was described as a full member of the Rockers, a gang allied with the Hells Angels.

Fontaine and Blaquiere were described as being associated with, but not members of, the Hell's Angels. The narcotics investigation began Feb. 17, when Canada Customs searched a container in Montreal shipped from Brazil. Customs agents discovered 353 kilograms of cocaine hidden between the planks of 10 wooden palettes upon which 300 bags of coffee had been shipped. Police from an anti-gang task force were called in and the shipment was allowed to proceed, under surveillance, to its destination, a wholesale coffee-distribution centre located in Laval.

Once the coffee had been delivered to the company on Feb. 20, the cocaine was removed and placed in a privately owned vehicla It was then delivered to what police described as "a motorcycle gang involved in criminal activity" at a Sherbrooke St shopping centre. On Feb. 21, police raids resulted in the drug seizure and two arrests. Further raids the same day saw police seize 1.5 kilograms of explosives and 15 blasting caps.

They also seized a revolver and a 9-mm semi-automatic pistol with their serial numbers filed off. Raids carried out at two Montreal-area locations Tuesday resulted in more firearm seizures another calibre revolver and a 9-mm pistol as well as a sawed off 12-gauge shotgun, a revolver and a bullet-proof vest Four more people were arrested. Marcos Mendes Elias and his wife, Lucie Kawoge, described as administrators of the coffee company, have been charged with conspiracy to import and traffic 353 kilograms of cocaine, as has Johnson. Johnson and his wife, Nathalie Robert, also face charges of being in illegal possession of explosives. Fontaine is charged with possession of a restricted weapon, while Blaquiere faces drug-trafficking charges.

$229" SxS Demo 129 Police will pay close attention to the results of ballistics tests conducted on weapons seized along with 353 kilograms of cocaine. "If you ask me today if I have the (ballistics) results, the answer is no," RCMP Inspector Michel Cuerrier said yesterday, during a press conference to showcase the cocaine and weapons seized over the course of a six-week police operation. "But we will be certainly verifying whether or not these weapons were I used in any other crimes." Police said there's a chance the weapons taken in the investigation might figure in the gang war between the Hell's Angels and Rock Machine for control of Quebec's drug trade. The surveillance operation was trig- gered by the arrival in Montreal in i February of a freight container of Brazilian coffee shipped on wooden palettes that were stuffed with cocaine. Investigators said the drugs could have been worth more than $100 mil ML mJ 55, DE LA COMMUNE WEST OLD-MONTREAl, 849-5211 Montreal En-LIGNE OPtSfromlOAM to 6 PM 7 DAYS A WEEK RCMP anti-smuggling raids nab 22 Take the bite out of the bear.

Twenty-two people were arrested yesterday as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police capped a two-year. probe into a smuggling ring based in the Lanaudiere region, northeast of 1 The gang is suspected of smuggling more than $1 million worth of ciga-; rettes, tobacco and alcohol into Quebec from the United States. Most of the contraband was carted across the border over unpatrolled roads near Lacolle and at the Indian re-; serve at Akwesasne, police said. More than 50 RCMP officers began the roundup shortly after dawn, carry- ing out simultaneous raids on homes in Montreal, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Trois-Rivieres and Thetford Mines. The RCMP's customs and excise section has seized more than $1 million worth of contraband since the police operation was launched two years ago, RCMP Constable Gilles Deziel said.

The ring was based in Joliette and Repentigny, just off the eastern tip of Montreal Island, Deziel said. The 22 arrested were arraigned in Quebec Court at Joliette on conspiracy and smuggling charges. Two more people targeted by the Mounties remained at large late yesterday. 86-piece Limoges porcelain dinner service R.Hewton IMPORTANT AUCTION Included in this auction is a multitude of items for many private andor commercial interests, featuring: furniture, paintings, jewellery, silver, crystal, collectibles, porcelain, bronzes, rare coins, stamps, docks, in a 5-SESSION PUBLIC AUCTION Many of these lots will be sold at NO MINIMUM NO RESERVE INSPECTION Sat April 12th 13th 10a.rn.toS p.m. AUCTION Sunday, Apr.

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