Iqaluit police net pot, pills in pair of busts

Ed Devries appeared in court Monday on drug charges.

Devries, 51, was arrested Jan. 29 after police searched two Iqaluit homes and seized nearly one kilogram of marijuana, $7,200 in cash, a GMC Yukon and trafficking paraphernalia.

Devries faces charges of drug trafficking and possession of the proceeds of crime. Sakku Kripinak, 30, was also arrested Jan. 29 and faces a charge of marijuana trafficking.

Kripinak was released on an undertaking and will appear in court May 7. The CBC reported that Devries was released after his court appearance and will return before a judge Feb. 15.

Meanwhile, Joseph Hess, 54, faces two drug trafficking charges in connection with a Jan. 27 raid where RCMP seized 400 grams of marijuana and 29 pills of oxycodone, an addictive opioid painkiller sometimes called “Hillbilly heroin.”

Hess was released from custody but is to appear in court Feb. 5.