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Drug money leads to dealers in Nunavik

Kuujjuaraapik man skips court, forfeits $15,000

JANE GEORGE

Police in Nunavik are seizing both drugs and money in an attempt to discourage the rising drug trade in the region.

Last week, in Kuujjuaq, police found nearly a kilo of marijuana in coffee cans, king-sized beer cans and several bottles of hard liquor in the luggage of an Aupaluk resident who was flying in from Montreal.

Charges in this incident are pending as police investigate.

Any seized drugs or booze destined for the black market are destroyed, but now the Kativik Regional Police Force is also going after the proceeds of suspected drug-trafficking.

Two weeks ago, a man in Kuujjuaraapik didn't bother to show up in court to recover more than $15,000 seized by the KRPF last year. Police could not find drugs in his possession, but they seized the money as the proceeds of drug sales.

The money was en route from two communities to a man the police say is known as a drug trafficker.

Police seized $3,100 in June, 2003 that was sent to him from Akulivik boxed in a coffee kettle with two store catalogues. They seized another $12,000, which had been sent to the same man from Sanikiluaq in November, 2003 in an Air Inuit Sulupac.

"There were no criminal charges laid. We went for forfeiture of money, the money being from criminal activity. It was the first time we tried this," said KRPF Capt. Larry Hubert.

The man who lost the money could have appeared in court with an affidavit regarding the origins of the money.

In his absence, Quebec Judge Laurent Bonin determined the money should be forfeited and remain in the provincial government coffers.

On June 7 in Inukjuak, another case involving $43,453 seized by police last September will be heard in court.

Police had found the money taped to the chest of an Air Inuit passenger en route from Inukjuak to Montreal.

During a routine security check at the airport in Kuujjuaraapik, a man became agitated when the wand that is used to check for metal began to beep loudly when security agents waved it near him.

Constables from the KRPF, who were called in to assist in dealing with the man, saw that beneath his shirt were several packages taped to his chest.

After the man was taken to the KRPF police station, where he was charged with disturbing the peace, police found that the packages taped to his chest were filled with cash, in the form of 20-, 50- and 100-dollar bills.

The individual packages were neatly labelled Sanikiluaq, Inukjuak and Kuujjuaraapik, with the amount of money and air fare, as expenses, indicated on each one.

The man told police that this money represented cash received from the sale of carvings, although police were skeptical. They will ask for this money to be forfeited next week.

"The law now is pretty clear. All the money has to go back to the Quebec government, then it's distributed. But we want to push the government, so the money seized in Nunavik stays in Nunavik where we can use the money for crime prevention and make people more aware of drug and alcohol abuse," KRPF chief Brian Jones said.

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