Pubdate: Fri, 28 May 2004
Source: Nunatsiaq News (CN NU)
Copyright: 2004 Nortext Publishing Corporation
Contact:  http://www.nunatsiaq.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/694
Author: Jane George

DRUG BUSTS OFFER GLIMPSE INTO MONTREAL-NUNAVIK DRUG TRADE

"This is bigger than you can imagine"

A series of recent arrests in Montreal and Inukjuak have netted several 
kilograms of marijuana, hashish and hashish oil.

But this is just a small part of the rapidly growing market for drugs and 
booze in Nunavik that involves many people, police say.

On May 12, the RCMP arrested Boulaem Laichi, 50, in Montreal.

Boulaem, a former bellhop at the Manoir Lemoyne hotel, was found in 
possession of a large quantity of drugs bound for Nunavik. The Manoir 
Lemoyne (now the Clarion), is a suite hotel on De Maisonneuve West that's 
popular with visiting northerners.

Boulaem faces charges of conspiracy, possession, and possession for the 
purpose of trafficking.

At the same time, Kativik Regional Police Force constables arrested two 
people in Inukjuak. Charges are pending.

These recent drug-scoops resulted from a province-wide operation called 
"Chinook," involving the RCMP, the Surete du Quebec, and the KRPF, intended 
to clamp the flow of drugs to Nunavik.

"This is an ongoing operation and there will be more arrests to follow. 
This is bigger than you can imagine," said KRPF police chief Brian Jones. 
"This is the first phase of more charges to come in Nunavik and in the South."

Police suspect that criminal elements outside the region and even outside 
Quebec, as well as terrorist organizations, are masterminding the 
multi-million dollar drug trade in Nunavik.

Since the beginning of 2004, police in Nunavik have seized more than 20 
kilos of drugs, including so-called "hard" drugs such as cocaine and crack 
cocaine.

"The more we look for, the more we find," Jones said.

Last year, about 46 kilos of drugs were seized in Nunavik, but if police 
were able to carry out seizures daily, Jones estimates his officers would 
easily seize more than 400 kilos a year.

This amount of drugs would have an approximate street value of $21 million 
in Nunavik.

Another $10 million is spent on alcohol. Quebec's alcohol corporation, la 
Societe des alcools du Quebec, sells 47,500 bottles of booze a year in 
Nunavik for sales of $1 million, while grocery stores sell $3.2 million, 
and bars in Kuujjuaq and Kuujjuaraapik rack up more than $4 million in 
alcohol sales a year.

"And more is bootlegged," Jones said.

The KRPF is encouraging Nunavummiut to continue giving the police 
confidential information about drug deals and bootlegging so they can 
continue seizures of drugs and illegally sold booze.

"They can remain anonymous, but we want to encourage people to support this 
sort of thing," Jones said. "We have to get people to realize it's a problem."

The magnitude of the problem doesn't surprise Andy Moorhouse, mayor of 
Inukjuak. He'd like to see people in his community stop spending money on 
booze and drugs, but, to do that, they need a community-wide rehabilitation 
plan.

"That's what we'd like to see, if the health board could work with us on 
this," Moorhouse said.

"If we completely eliminate alcohol or drugs, the activity will just get 
worse, they'll turn to sniffing, violence and all that. I would rather have 
the people do drugs than go crazy and start sniffing." 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D