Man in possession of a large quantity of drugs arrested in a taxi

Sonia Roy

Officers of the Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau (SPVG) arrested Jamie Joseph Picard, 37 years old, following the interception of a taxi on Laval Street at approximately 5:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 1, 2022. After stopping a taxi that was driving in violation of the Code de la sécurité routière (Road Safety Code) in the Hull sector, the officers of the SPVG recognized the accused (who had an active warrant for his arrest), who was the rear passenger of the vehicle at the time, and arrested him. After a cursory search, the officers of the SPVG discovered that the man was in possession of large quantities of narcotics, $13,000 in cash, as well as a taser gun. The complete inventory of the search of Jamie Joseph Picard allowed the SPVG to seize several types of narcotics in various forms: close to 330 g of heroin, 200 g of Crystal meth in block form, 64.7 g of Crystal meth in powder form, 37 g of crack cocaine, and just over 250 g of three types of "Purple", a mixture of several illicit and opioid substances, including heroin. In addition to the taser and a utility knife, the man had an Ottawa Police Service badge inside his wallet.

Following his arrest, Jamie Joseph Picard was taken to the police station where he met with investigators. He later appeared in Quebec Court. As his appearance was conducted by videoconference, the accused remained in custody until October 3, 2022 for a second appearance. He could be found guilty of various charges, including possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, possession of property obtained by crime, contravention of a prohibition order and unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon. It should be noted that the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DCPP) has authorized the charge of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. The other three charges have not yet been authorized by the DPCP.

Photo caption: Header of the SPVG Criminal Investigations

Photo credit: City of Gatineau