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Montreal corner store busted for pot

Marijuana harder to find for patients at Nunavik House

JANE GEORGE

The Dépanneur RYK located at 5781 Upper Lachine Road near Nunavik House in the NDG district of Montreal did a brisk trade selling $10 bags of pot to Nunavik House patients — until police shut it down last month. (PHOTO BY GIOVANNA TADDEO)

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Police learned the dingy corner store was carrying on a booming trade in snacks, beer and $10 bags of grass — to a mainly Inuit clientele.

“When you go to Paris, you go to see the Eiffel Tower; when you go to Nunavik House, you would stop by there and buy two grams [of pot] for 20 bucks,” said Russell St-Germain of the Montreal Urban Police.

But on May 16, police from the Montreal-based Combined Aboriginal Forces Special Enforcement Unit and the MUP moved in to stop the illegal business.

Police arrived at the Dépanneur RYK located at 5781 Upper Lachine Road around 7 p.m. and searched the premises.

Police found a stash of marijuana in the store’s back fridge, which was packaged for sale, as well as an additional quantity of grass within easy reach under the counter in the front.

A total of 205 of grams was seized. Police also found and seized about $1,500 in cash.

Owner Mampulli Ramakrishnan, 50, faces trafficking charges.

An undercover agent had purchased drugs from the owner. This allowed police to request and receive a search warrant.

Since 2004, Montreal police had been receiving information about the store’s drug-trafficking sideline.

However, the case was put aside because it wasn’t as urgent as many other life-threatening situations.

Then, Montreal police learned that the corner store’s trafficking was having an impact in Nunavik from the joint aboriginal unit’s Giovanna Taddeo, who is on loan to the unit from the Kativik Regional Police Force.

“Here, we don’t know what’s going on in the North, but we know now it has a large impact there. We let the owner know that the reason he was arrested is that he is selling to Inuit. He said he doesn’t want their business any more,” St-Germain said.

Nunavik house and the neighbouring Hampton House, which provide lodging for patients and escorts from Nunavik, have a zero drug and alcohol policy.

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