Aerial surveillance photos from court documents show members of an alleged ring of extremists during shooting drills in a forested area near Quebec City.Supplied
Two years ago, RCMP officers spying on an alleged ring of extremists in Quebec took notice when one suspect warned on a gun culture podcast about “another Waco.” But another part of his online chat raised more immediate concerns.
Beside talking about the deadly 1993 clash between law enforcement and cult members in Waco, Texas, the suspect had mentioned that he wanted to change the tires and suspension of his Toyota Tacoma pickup.
For two months, the Mounties had been tracking the man’s movement with a GPS beacon hidden inside his truck. His automotive upgrade plans could potentially expose the police surveillance operation.
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The GPS tracker episode was revealed in court files made public Monday after a judicial application by several media outlets, including The Globe and Mail. The unsealed documents are warrant applications in the case of four men with military ties that the RCMP arrested in the Quebec City area last July.
The RCMP removed the device from the truck before it could be discovered, the documents show.
Canadian Army Master Corporal Marc-Aurèle Chabot, former infantry reservist Simon Angers-Audet and former cadet instructor Raphaël Lagacé were charged with facilitating terrorist activity. The three, along with another suspect, artillery Corporal Matthew Forbes, were also indicted for possession of prohibited firearms and military equipment.
A surveillance photo from the court documents taken in September, 2023, by the RCMP while covertly following one of the suspects, Raphaël Lagacé (right).Supplied
The police alleged the four were leading figures in a group of men who trained with firearms and talked of creating a militia and taking over a plot of land. According to the affidavits, the men harboured right-wing extremist views.
Key aspects of the case cannot be reported yet because they remain under publication bans. However, more than 13,000 pages of affidavits were unsealed Monday, giving a peek into the scale and challenges of the investigation.
None of the allegations have been tested in court. The affidavits, known as ITOs, were sworn by the RCMP to obtain judicial authorizations to track the men’s whereabouts, search their homes and phones, and obtain records from phone companies, banks and postal services.
The affidavits show that the investigation began in March, 2023, after the RCMP received a letter from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, tipping them about MCpl. Chabot and a group of former and current soldiers calling themselves Hide and Stalk.
The RCMP followed the suspects as they drove around the Quebec City area. On May 16, 2023, the Mounties obtained a warrant allowing them to hide a GPS tracker on MCpl. Chabot’s Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.
MCpl. Chabot lives in Quebec City and the warrant requested the co-operation of the local police, explaining that the Mounties might have to use “false pretenses” to keep people away while they planted the beacon.
According to the ITOs, before the RCMP had a chance to carry out their plan, the four suspects and a dozen other men gathered during the last weekend of May, 2023, to conduct tactical drills at ZEC Batiscan-Neilson, a hunting ground northwest of Quebec City.
The Mounties used aerial surveillance, sometimes with night-vision cameras, to monitor the group’s tactical training at the ZEC. On the Hide and Stalk Instagram account, the group members said they had practised land navigation, setting up observation posts, and shooting from a static position and while on the move.
A screenshot from the group’s Instagram page showing suspects in tactical gear and with firearms.Supplied
Once MCpl. Chabot got back to Quebec City, the Mounties concealed a tracking device in his Toyota Tacoma on May 30, 2023, the court documents say.
The ITOs say two weeks later, a man calling himself “Hide and Stalk” appeared on a podcast called the Modern Canadian Shooter. The affidavits say the man was MCpl. Chabot.
The podcast episode is no longer online but the ITOs say that he spoke about the Waco raid, when four American federal agents were shot dead by members of a cult. He warned against “coming after dudes that are prepared … It’s gonna be another Waco.”
According to the court documents, he mused on the podcast that his vehicle would be useful. “Let’s say we run a scenario where we acquire supply from some suburbs by unlawful means, you’re good to go,” he said.
The ITOs say that the GPS beacon was removed from the truck on July 11, 2023.
However, the Mounties had a backup method to keep track of the suspects. Four days before they plucked out the GPS device, the RCMP had obtained warrants to order phone companies to provide them with the geolocations of the four men’s cellphones.
Thanks to the ability to geolocate MCpl. Chabot’s Samsung Galaxy, the Mounties learned on Aug. 1, 2023, that he was near Rolphton, in eastern Ontario.
This was corroborated the next day by a CSIS letter tipping the RCMP that Hide and Stalk had planned a training weekend around a member’s residence in Rolphton. Again, the Mounties used aerial surveillance to observe the group, the affidavits say.
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The documents say that investigators noticed in a Sept. 6 surveillance photo that the wheels on MCpl. Chabot’s Toyota Tacoma had been replaced with larger ones, and the suspension appeared to have been modified.
The RCMP then applied to reinstall a tracker on the Tacoma. Geolocating a mobile phone isn’t as accurate as a GPS beacon because the suspect might be in an area where cellular transmission towers are far apart or absent, for example in the ZEC, the warrant application explained.
Police were forced to tip their hand in the case in early 2024. On Jan. 2, Mr. Lagacé’s former girlfriend called 9-1-1 to report that he was suicidal. Local police seized 50 guns from him without a warrant, as a preventive measure.
The RCMP followed suit days later, searching the homes and vehicles of the four men and seizing their phones. But it would be a year and a half until police filed charges against them.