Canadian police capture 3 who escaped jail by helicopter

USPA News - Three suspected Canadian drug traffickers who escaped from a Quebec jail earlier this month in a daring helicopter jailbreak were captured on early Sunday, police said. The accomplices who helped the men escape were still being sought, but more arrests were expected soon.

The three men - Yves Denis, 35, Denis Lefebvre, 53, and Pomerleau, 49 - were arrested at around 1:30 a.m. local time at a house in Montreal, about 230 kilometers (143 miles) southwest of Quebec City. The suspects are expected to appear in court in Quebec City on Monday. "Three individuals who had escaped from the detention center in Quebec were arrested in Montreal last night by investigators from the Quebec Provincial Police. They were supported by the Emergency Response Team of the Quebec Provincial Police," a police spokesman said. "The suspects will appear in the Quebec City courthouse on Monday. The investigation is ongoing." Police declined to say what led investigators to the house in Montreal, but a spokesman said more arrests were expected to take place soon. The three men escaped from the Orsainville Detention Center in Quebec City on the evening of June 7 when a green helicopter landed in the facility`s courtyard and took off in a westerly direction. All three men had been arrested in 2010 as part of an investigation into a drug trafficking network in western Quebec. They are also facing charges of premeditated murder. The daring jailbreak on June 7 came just over a year after two inmates escaped from another detention center in Quebec by clambering up a rope from an awaiting helicopter. The helicopter - which had earlier been hijacked by two accomplices - took them to a waiting vehicle, but they were captured just hours later after a firefight with police.