Montreal-area police announced Wednesday that they have arrested three people in connection with a major data theft and $8.9-million fraud involving the co-operative financial group Desjardins, some five years after the alleged crime.

Police in Laval, Que., said one of the suspects was caught with a list of personal data for 1.6 million Quebecers.

The arrests are tied to a 2019 data theft, described as the largest ever in the Canadian financial services sector, that targeted more than 9.7 million Desjardins clients in Canada and internationally, including almost seven million Quebecers.