RCMP arrest two after raid at alleged migrant smuggling stash house in Montreal

MONTREAL — An RCMP border enforcement team arrested an alleged human smuggler and raided a suspected migrant stash house in the Montréal-Nord borough on Thursday, part of an investigation involving United States customs officials.

RCMP Cst. Marie-Pierre Guertin said investigators believe the residence housed migrants after they were smuggled into Canada from the U.S., or before they crossed south of the border.

“Basically, we use the term stash house for migrants,” she said in a phone interview.

Guertin said the raid is connected to an event on June 2, during which an RCMP officer was injured by an alleged smuggler who was intercepted in a vehicle near the U.S. border with five migrants aboard. A 25-year-old man was charged with assaulting an officer after allegedly ramming the door of the police vehicle before fleeing the scene.

Thursday’s raid at the residence comes as smuggling networks have been forced to become more organized, Guertin said, since the Canadian and U.S. governments closed an immigration loophole in 2023 that had allowed people to simply walk across the border at an irregular crossing to claim asylum.

Thousands of would-be refugees used to walk across a rural road from New York state into Quebec to make an asylum claim.

“Now, because Roxham Road is closed off, they need to find other ways,” Guertin said. “They organize themselves a lot more to be able to bring in migrants and to smuggle them into Canada.”

RCMP didn’t identify the alleged smuggler who was arrested on Thursday, but Guertin said he could face a criminal charge of conspiracy to commit an offence in a foreign country. He could also be charged under Canada’s Immigration Act with organizing entry into Canada, she said.

Guertin said a male migrant from East India was also arrested and was being questioned. That person will likely be turned over to immigration authorities, she said.

She said the raid took place at a residence in Montréal-Nord’s De Belleville Avenue. At the scene on Thursday, a damaged front door could be seen on a brick low-rise building that appeared to contain multiple units.

Neighbours told The Canadian Press they hadn’t suspected any smuggling had been taking place there, until police suddenly appeared Thursday morning.

Lucio Masciotra, who lives across the street, said there was a lot of activity at the home in recent years.

“Nothing stable, a lot of coming and going,” he said. However, he said he had thought the address belonged to a community organization helping new immigrants — not smugglers.

Another neighbour, Rosie Morelli, said she heard screaming and banging at around 5:30 a.m. Thursday. When she looked out, she saw rows of police cars and armed officers.

Thursday’s raid was carried out by the RCMP’s Champlain Integrated Border Enforcement Team, as part of an investigation that includes contributions from Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Guertin said.

Guertin said the investigation suggests that smugglers are using social media platforms such as Snapchat and WhatsApp “to communicate with the migrants and to co-ordinate the illegal crossing.”

Last year, four people were arrested and charged in August 2025 after RCMP and Quebec provincial police intercepted a cube truck carrying 44 foreign nationals near the U.S. border in Quebec.

Refugee advocates have suggested that more people might try to cross the border after a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disasters in Haiti and Syria.

But Guertin says that, so far, there hasn’t been an increase in the number of migrants intercepted at the border compared to the same period in previous years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 2, 2026.

Morgan Lowrie and Erika Morris, The Canadian Press