Parents of teen also charged

KUUJJUAQ – A SWAT team from the Sûrété du Québec provincial police force swooped down near Kangirsuk Sept. 19 to arrest three young men wanted by police in connection with several violent incidents.

Two helicopters carrying six team members from the SQ and four Kativik Regional Police Force constables, were involved in the hush-hush raid, finalized in secrecy last week during the Kativik Regional Government council meeting in Kuujjuaq.

The three young men had been hiding out since Sept. 5 at Qinnuaq, a traditional Arctic char fishing camp about 40 kilometres up the Payne River.

"One member of the KRPF went with the SQ SWAT team to an island where the three individuals were. The three individuals were arrested without incident and flown back to Kuujjuaq by helicopter," said Aileen Mackinnon, the KRPF's deputy director of operations.

Police arrested Stanley Carrier, 18, Joe Pootoogee, 22, and Yaasi Grey, 21. Carrier and Pootoogee face three separate charges, including break and entering, assault and assault with a weapon. Grey faces charges of assault and uttering threats.

Lucy Carrier and Tommy Lasa Kotak, the parents of one of the three accused, face charges of assisting the fugitives. Carrier and Kotak were charged and released with conditions.

The Sept. 19 SWAT team operation came as a relief to many in Kangirsuk, where local residents say they have been terrorized for years by violent youths.

The raid came two weeks after a gang of local thugs beat up several people in Kangirsuk during the early hours of Sept. 6.

Jimmy Simigak told Nunatsiaq News how a group of boys and young men, aged 12 to 22, entered his cousin's home and pummeled him with their fists, feet, a golf club and a hockey stick.

After the beating, two of the young men fled up the river, along with a third teenager, also wanted by police in connection with a separate incident.