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Lawyers crafting plea-outs for Project Crystal accused

Four men held in detention until cases dealt with

JANE GEORGE

A package deal is in the works for most of the Nunavik and Nunavut residents who were arrested during Project Crystal's drug busts in Montreal, Nunavik and Nunavut earlier this summer.

During the week of Sept. 19, the cases of 19 Eastern Arctic residents, who were arrested, brought to Montreal, and then released, will be decided.

Under a deal that is being worked out between prosecutors and defence lawyers, the offenders will likely plead guilty to trafficking and receive fines or other penalties, as well as periods of probation.

On May 31, the Aboriginal Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit broke a long-time drug pipeline from Montreal to Nunavik and Nunavut in a series of early morning raids. The operation resulted in 325 charges against more than 40 people.

The police round-up included Inuit and non-Inuit, old and young, men and women, in 12 Nunavut and Nunavik communities.

On Sept. 20, a date for a preliminary inquiry will also be set for four other men who have been kept in detention following their arrests on a variety of drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy charges: Daniel Kasudluak, 28, from Inukjuak, Myva Quarak, 41, from Kuujjuaraapik, Bobby Eyaituq, 30, and Isaac Amitook, 26, from Sanikiluaq.

If they are found guilty of the more serious offences, these men face jail terms of eight years or more.

Earlier this summer, Judge Céline Pelletier turned down a request for their release from preventive detention.

In a 15-page judgement rendered on July 5, Pelletier reviewed the evidence against the four detainees.

This judgement is not subject to a non-publication order and was obtained by Nunatsiaq News.

The judgement says that, according to evidence presented by the Crown, Kasudluak was the middle-man and chief associate, or l'homme de confiance, of a man who ran the Montreal-based drug network.

It is alleged that for seven years, Kasudluak sold drugs and coordinated contacts with sellers in other communities in Nunavik and Nunavut.

During one month last winter, it is alleged that he transferred $43,412 to the South and sent another $63,000 to Montreal via a relative who acted as a courier.

A hidden stash of $10,000, drugs and telephone bills linking him to a man alleged to be the kingpin of the network, "Mike" Marcello Ruggiero, were also found at Kasudluak's residence during a search in early April. Arrested and released at the time, he began "illegal activities a short time later," Pelletier said in her judgement.

Between Feb. 22 and March 22, it is alleged that Myva Quarak transferred $23,500 from Kuujjuaraapik and was allegedly one of the "best sellers" in the network, while Amitook and Eyaituk, unemployed roommates in Sanikiluaq, transferred $28,800 to the south.

Pelletier's judgement notes that accused persons may only be detained if it's necessary to assure they return to court, to protect the public, or to maintain the public's confidence in the judicial system.

It says that amounts offered by two of the accused as bail aren't enough to guarantee their return to court because "if found guilty, the detainees face a long prison sentence."

Pelletier rejected the bail request because "in each of the cases, taking into consideration the nature of the offenses, the pertinent circumstances, the probability of a guilty verdict, the detainees' level of involvement, their profile, way of life, previous judicial records, family background and, in certain cases, their behaviour before the offenses were committed, and the danger they represent for their communities," the four accused didn't provide enough convincing proof to show that they should be released.

"There exists a high probability that if they are let go, they will return to drug trafficking," Pelletier's judgement said.

The judgement also says "the detainees face serious charges and they do not have the support of their communities." The public would moreover be "shocked by the provisional release of these detainees" and their release would send a bad message to law-abiding members of their communities.

Those arrested from the South will appear in court on Oct. 6.

Police say the drug-trafficking network broken during the May 31 raids netted $250,000 a week in drug sales. According to court documents, between Feb. 22 and Apr. 8, 46 pounds of marijuana were sent north, generating $1.6 million in sales.

For each $50 package sold in Nunavik or Nunavik, sellers kept $20 and sent the other $30 south.

The money was sent to Montreal in three ways:

• Money transfers through local stores to a Montreal-based transport company, which would then write out a cheque for the amount transferred. "This cheque would then be deposited at the Royal Bank, which, according to an agreement with the transport company, did not demand that the person holding the cheque have an account to be able to cash it;"
• Postal orders; and
• Couriers, also known as "mules."

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