HELLS ANGELS CORNER THE DRUG MARKET IN NUNAVUT

IQALUIT, Nunavut - The Hells Angels have set up shop north of
sixty.

Attracted by the lure of easy money and the mini-economic boom sparked
by the creation of Canada's newest territory, the motorcycle gang has
taken control of Nunavut's drug trade and is seeking new
marketplaces.

"There's been a major, major increase in the last year," Corporal Jim
Christensen, head of the RCMP's Nunavut Drug Section, said in a recent
interview. "Criminal organizations in the south realize the potential
and are seizing the moment."

The decades-old trade in cannabis has been consolidated and cocaine is
starting to flow into the eastern Arctic in quantity, showing up for
the first time in outlying settlements such as Pangnirtung and Cape
Dorset. The reason is simple, said Cpl. Christensen -- money.

"The greed factor is everything," he said.

A street gram of coke (actual weight between .4 and .8 of a gram)
sells for between $200 and $275 in Iqaluit, far above the $80 it would
fetch in most Canadian cities. A gram of marijuana or hash goes for
$30, double or triple the price in the south.

The influx of workers to new high-paying jobs to Iqaluit -- the Baffin
Island community of 5,000 has seen more than $50-million in new
construction since it became the territorial seat of government on
April 1, 1999 -- has created a ready market.

"The Hells are turning their attention anywhere where there's money to
be made ... especially when it's easy," said Sergeant Guy Ouellette,
a biker expert with the S-ret, du Qu,bec.

Under siege from the Rock Machine in Quebec and faced with "virgin
territory" in the far North, the Hells Sherbrooke, Que., branch began
to quietly muscle in on the Nunavut trade two years ago, he said. The
Sherbrooke chapter, the largest in Canada with 25 full-patch members,
already controlled the drug trade in the north of the province and
operates in several francophone communities in Northern Ontario.

"It's a natural extension," said Sgt. Ouellette.

Police have been reluctant to publicize the Hells Angels expansion,
but recent arrests highlight the gang's growing power in the far North.

This month, the SQ staged a series of raids across Quebec under the
auspices of Project Nordica, a probe of trafficking routes to the far
North. Investigators seized six kilograms of hash, 21 grams of cocaine
and several hundred thousand dollars in cash.

In one of the Montreal apartments they raided, police found packages
of cannabis bearing addresses in Nunavut and Quebec's Ungava region,
ready to be mailed out by express post.

In the Laurentians, police found contraband liquor and a canning
machine they believe was used to package drugs for transit. They
recovered a debt list with the names of 40 northern residents, showing
$200,000 to $300,000 outstanding.

Six people have been charged, including Gilles Allard, identified by
police as an associate member of the Sherbrooke Hells Angels, and
Michel Leblanc, a former RCMP constable. According to Sgt. Ouellette,
police found $200,000 in Mr. Leblanc's home, and close to $60,000 more
arrived by mail in the week following his arrest.

That same week, Iqaluit RCMP charged a resident of nearby Apex with
trafficking, seizing an ounce-and-a-half of cocaine, with an estimated
street value of $12,000.

The Hells Angels connection first surfaced in March, 1998, when police
in Nunavut collared a full-patch member of the Sherbrooke chapter as
part of a two-year investigation into the Baffin Island hash trade,
which resulted in the arrest of 29 people on 68 counts. Charges were
eventually dropped because of insufficient evidence.

While bikers are not currently thundering down the dirt streets of
Iqaluit, their presence is felt in the town.

One local cocaine dealer, who spoke under the condition of anonymity,
said the gang's name is often invoked by those seeking to instill fear
in consumers and the competition.

"There's a lot of wannabes," said the man. "A lot of them like to have
the ties and the name. But there's no colour wearing or waving going
on."

The RCMP says Iqaluit's boomtown atmosphere has been something of a
magnet for a "bad element" from the rest of the country, an assessment
the dealer agrees with.

"It's pretty well people that didn't succeed down south and came up
here and found an easy way to make a fast buck," he said.

Pamela Clarke, regional director for the federal Department of
Justice, said the increase in the drug trade is a concern, but the
preoccupation for both police and the courts remains violent personal
crimes such as assault, rape and domestic abuse.

Ms. Clarke pointed to the many challenges facing the new territory,
including chronic unemployment, poverty and low education levels.

"We're like a microcosm of the things that cause crime.," she said.