Officers seized 4 replica firearms, no charges laid as of Wednesday afternoon

Saskatchewan RCMP arrested 17 adults, including cult leader Romana Didulo, in the village of Richmound on Wednesday after a firearms investigation.

At a news conference on Wednesday afternoon in Regina, Insp. Ashley St. Germaine said RCMP executed a search warrant at a privately owned decommissioned school in Richmound at around 4:30 a.m CST.

Didulo and her followers have been living for two years in the village of approximately 118 people, located 365 kilometres west of Regina, near the Alberta border.

Germaine said RCMP got a report on Aug. 25 of one of the building’s occupants possessing a firearm. That led to the investigation that culminated in the raid.

“A team of skilled and experienced senior officers was established to oversee this large and complex operation,” she said.

More than 30 police vehicles from multiple jurisdictions, including two tactical vehicles, were at the scene, Germaine said.

A livestream video, posted by Didulo to her followers on Telegram at 5:51 a.m. CST on Wednesday, captured the moment when two officers wearing tactical gear burst into a room where Didulo was standing.

“Leave the phone down. You’re under arrest,” one officer says in the video.

Didulo surrenders to officers and the camera is pointed at the floor for a few minutes. Voices off camera then remark that the phone is livestreaming before the video ends.