B u s t e d !

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT – RCMP shut down what they’re calling an extensive Baffin region drug distribution ring Tuesday, arresting 27 people in Nunavut, Quebec and British Columbia and placing Supreme Court restraining orders on $2.5 million worth of property.

In a meticulously-planned raid that began Mar. 24 at 6 a.m., RCMP stormed businesses and residences, rousting accused persons from their slumbers in Iqaluit, Pangnirtung, two Quebec locations and one in British Columbia.

“It’s a major disruption of a significant drug distribution network that’s been operating in the Baffin for several years now,” Sergeant Tom Steggles of Yellowknife’s community policing section said from Iqaluit Tuesday afternoon.

An RCMP drug unit in Iqaluit has spent the past two years investigating the drug trade between Iqaluit and Montreal.

Because of its location and size, Iqaluit has become the distribution centre for drugs heading to smaller communities.

By early Tuesday, Iqaluit RCMP had arrested 21 people. At the same time, they applied to the NWT Supreme Court to have restraining orders placed on three Iqaluit residences, the fast-food restaurant “The Snack” and an adjacent candy store.

All five properties – with a value estimated to total $2.5 million, are owned by Claude Caza of Iqaluit.

Under federal “proceeds of crime legislation,” assets believed to have been obtained as a result of criminal activity may be frozen and eventually handed over to the Crown.

“At the same time we were visting those locations and making arrests and searching those locations, RCMP units in Montreal, Sherbrooke (Que.), Pangnirtung and Rock Creek, B.C., were all doing the same thing,” Steggles explained.

RCMP arrested one person in Pangnirtung, two people in Rock Creek, B.C., three people in Montreal and one in Sherbrooke, Quebec. That Sherbrooke resident is a member of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club.

Steggles wouldn’t comment on the connection to the Hell’s Angels or whether more arrests within that group are expected.

By late Tuesday afternoon, RCMP had arrested an additional four Iqaluit residents in connection with the operation, bringing the total number of arrests to 27. By late Wednesday afternoon, police were still looking for another two people in Iqaluit and one in Montreal.

Steggles explained that the operation began as a drug investigation in Iqaluit two years ago, but grew into a proceeds of crime investigation that extended into southern Canada.

“It was started as a result of on-going concerns from the public regarding drug abuse and drug trafficking in the area here,” Steggles said. “Over time we uncovered different parts of this drug distribution network.”

In 1994, Iqaluit residents took to the streets with placards protesting, among other things, the increasing drug trade in the community. During part of that demonstration, residents gathered outside of the Snack restaurant, and outside of Claude Caza’s residence further down the street.

In this week’s raids, RCMP also seized a small amount of marijuana and hashish and about 20 grams of cocaine, but Steggles pointed out that the purpose of the raid was property seizures.

“The priority wasn’t a big drug bust today,” he said Tuesday. “Obviously over the past two years, there’s been a lot of evidence and information-gathering and that allowed us to put the steps into place that enabled us to formally seize those properties today.”

The Supreme Court has placed a restraining order on the five properties to give the court time to determine whether there’s enough RCMP evidence to have them forfeited to the Crown.

As of our press-time this week, the following people had been arrested and charged:

* Claude Caza, 54, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance, conspiracy to commit arson, and four arson related charges;

* Clara Rumboldt, 54, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Nuyalea Kipanik, 23, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Billy Joe Barnes, 19, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance, and three counts of trafficking in a controlled substance;

* Danny Savard, 24, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Denis Aubut, 39, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance and three counts of trafficking in a controlled substance;

* Jean-Pierre Levesque, 46, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance and four counts of trafficking in a controlled substance;

* Roger Marquis, 44, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Grant Liddiard, 47, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Jay Wisintainer, 29, of Iqaluit, charged wtih conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance and two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance;

* Levi Jeffrey, 29, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Mark Wisintainer, 33, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Michael Noah, 22, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Jamie Edwards, 23, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Eric Rose, 22, of Iqaluit, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Bera Naulaq, 23, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Dorothy Noah, 18, of Iqaluit, charged with trafficking in a controlled substance;

* Kakasie Mitsima, 36, charged wtih conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Mary Anne Sheutiapik, 27, of Iqaluit, charged with trafficking in a controlled substance;

* Chesley Short, 33, of Iqaluit, charged wtih conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Francois Goupil, 28, of Sherbrooke, Quebec, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Mark Pitts, 49, of Rock Creek, B.C., charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance, and counselling the offence of fraud;

* Adam Pitts, 34, of Rock Creek, B.C., charged wtih conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance and two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance;

* Ricardo Lahens, 25, of Montreal, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Jean-Louis Wisintainer, 57, of Montreal, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance;

* Joalie Okalik, 40, of Pangnirtung, charged with conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance.