Translated from French
According to our information, Aurèle Brouillette (photo), Alexandre Landry, contender for the Hells Angels Nomads from the Dominican Republic, and Stéphane Richard were apprehended last Saturday while a convoy of motorcycles was driving towards Puerto Plata.
Three Quebecers, including a member of the Hells Angels Nomads of the Dominican Republic, Aurèle Brouillette, were arrested in this Caribbean country and are still believed to be detained.
According to our information, Brouillette, Alexandre Landry, contender for the Hells Angels Nomads from the Dominican Republic, and Stéphane Richard were apprehended last Saturday while a convoy of motorcycles was driving towards Puerto Plata.
The three men were reportedly arrested in connection with an anti-drug investigation by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in conjunction with the Dominican Republic’s immigration police.
The three individuals were reportedly arrested for a variety of reasons: possession of a weapon and illegal visas, but it is not known what exactly is alleged against each. It was for a problem with his dual Dominican citizenship that Aurèle Brouillette was apprehended, according to our sources.
Alexandre Landry has been in the Dominican Republic for about a year on a visa.
As for Stéphane Richard, he would have investments in the Dominican Republic, according to our information. He would face an arrest warrant in Quebec and will likely be deported to the province to face justice.
Pioneer of the Dominican Hells Angels
Aurèle Brouillette, 69, is a former member of the Rowdy Crew, the late Hells Angels school club, and the Hells Angels of Trois-Rivières. In the mid-2000s, he co-founded a section of the Hells Angels of the Dominican Republic whose premises were located on Route 81, in Cabarete. The number 81 represents the eighth and first letter of the alphabet, H and A, for Hells Angels.
This room was, however, taken over by the Dominican police at the request of the Quebec police on April 15, 2009, the day of Operation SharQc, the aim of which was to eradicate the Hells Angels in Quebec and their affiliated sections.
Brouillette managed to escape the police that day, but was arrested soon after. He was extradited to Quebec, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to murder in 2013, and was sentenced to 11 years and six months in jail.
The Cabarete room was seized following the police strike, but Aurèle Brouillette remained a member of the Dominican Republic’s Hells Angels now based in the capital, Santo Domingo.
He is the father of Mario Brouillette, a former Hells Angels of Trois-Rivières who, although he is no longer officially part of the international motorcycle club, is still considered an influential actor in organized crime in Quebec by the police.
Since Operation SharQc, the collaboration between Dominican police and Quebec and Canadian police has quietly improved, some police sources told La Presse in recent years.
In 2016 and 2017, Hells Angels who came to the Dominican Republic with their families for a vacation were turned away upon arrival at the airport.
One of them, the Hells Angels of the South Section Eric Bouffard, even complained to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
In recent years, motorcyclists targeted by major investigations in Quebec have found themselves on the run in the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic is considered a hub for the export of cocaine around the world, including to Quebec and Canada.
