Going postal: Cops snatch 46 pounds of Nunavut-bound weed

An unrolled marijuana joint, with a handmade paper filter on the left. Thanks to a combined operation by the RCMP and Canada Post, 46 pounds were removed from Nunavut’s regular supply of marijuana over March and April. The federal health minister, Jane Philpott, announced April 20 that her government will introduce legislation next year to legalize and regulate marijuana. (WIKIMEDIA COMMONS IMAGE)

After teaming up with Canada Post for two months on a series of “postal inspections” at southern locations, members of the Nunavut RCMP managed to seize 46 pounds of marijuana and 137 litres of illegal liquor bound for Nunavut, police said April 19.

They conducted the search at postal facilities in the south over March and April, on mail destined for communities in Nunavut.

The RCMP did not state which southern facilities they targeted in the operation or which Nunavut communities were intended as recipients for the seized contraband.

The search operation also led to the seizure of small amounts of cocaine and crack cocaine.

The seizures conducted through the Canada Post mail inspections do not appear to have produced any arrests on their own, despite the large amount of seized contraband.

But the operation did give rise to “an investigation regarding a large shipment of marihuana destined for Iqaluit,” police said.

That work paid off in the arrests of two men, each of whom are charged with possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.

The two accused, who police did not name in their release, are scheduled to appear May 16 at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.