Nunavik police step up drug and alcohol seizures

Kativik Regional Police Officers Sgt. Alex Moring, Tristan Green, the deputy chief of operations, and Aileen MacKinnon, the interim chief, listen to regional councillors June 1 at a meeting of the Kativik Regional Government Council in Kanigrsuk. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

KANGIRSUK — Since the beginning of 2011, the Kativik Regional Police Force has racked up an impressive list of drugs and alcohol which were seized by police in the region.

From January to April, the KRPF netted $914,460 worth of vodka, wine, beer, hashish, marijuana, crack cocaine, and prescription drugs, according to information tabled June 1 at the Kativik Regional Government council meeting in Kangirsuk.

The KRPF seized:

• 14,922.5 grams of marijuana;

• 138 vials of hash oil;

• 15 grams of crack cocaine;

• $75,130 worth of alcohol; and,

• $28,105.67 in cash.

More than a third of the alcohol was seized in Puvirnituq, with large quantities also netted in Salluit and Inukjuak.

Police confiscated most of the marijuana — 5286.5 grams — and hash — 824 grams— in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik’s most prosperous community, and in Inukjuak, one of its poorest, where 121 vials of hash oil were also seized in addition to 2,546 grams of marijuana.

Police also seized 15 grams of crack cocaine in Salluit.

And more than 100 prescription pills — speed, “uppers and downers” — made their way to Kangirsuk.

These were seized after they were found, without any prescription labels, in a box, the KRPF said.

The total street value of drugs and alcohol seized during the first four months of 2011 was highest for Kuujjuaq ($306,005) and Inukjuak ($153,600), with Puvirnituq, Salluit and Kangiqsujuaq following close behind in the amount of money spent.

In April, the Nunavik Investigation Unit, with members from the KRPF and the Sûreté du Québec, and the RCMP intercepted $350,000 worth of marijuana, hash oil, pills, crack cocaine and alcohol bound for Nunavik via Canada Post, the KRPF’s report to the regional council said.

Also in April, police netted more marijuana and alcohol during an operation at Montreal’s Trudeau airport.

Last year, police seized drugs and alcohol with a total street value of $1.7 million in Nunavik — an amount which still represents only a fraction of the drug market estimated by some to be as high as $30 million a year.

This spring, the KRPF’s criminal intelligence officer Sgt. Alex Moring took a one-week training program from the RCMP in “operation pipeline/convoy/jetway criminal interdiction techniques.”

That program teachers officers how to detect individuals who may be carrying drugs or other contraband items band how to indentify or speak with suspects, councillors heard.

After the KRPF delivered its report to the council, Kuujjuaq mayor and regional councillor Paul Parsons praised the KRPF for its efforts and those members of the public who had offered tips to the police about drug dealers and bootleggers.