QUEBEC POLICE BUST NUNAVIK-NUNAVUT DRUG RING

The Surete du Quebec and the Kativik Regional Police Force have arrested
members of a drug-dealing operation with ties to the Hells Angels.

MONTREAL - A joint investigation by the Surete du Quebec and the Kativik
Regional Police Force has resulted in a major seizure of drugs bound for
Nunavik and Nunavut.

On Tuesday, 40 police officers from both forces descended on several
residences in and around Montreal.

"We netted six kilos of hash, 21 grams of cocaine, three vehicles and
$130,000 in cash," said the KRPF's special investigator, Lucien Brassard.

Brassard said the drugs, with a street value of at least $300,000, were
destined for communities throughout Nunavik and five Nunavut communities,
including Iqaluit, Cape Dorset and Sanikiluaq.

Six individuals, five men and a woman, aged 36, 33, 50, 52 and 53 were also
arrested. Gilles Allard, Michel Leblanc, Desmond Clark, Daniel Roy, George
Coman and Susie Pootoogee appeared in court in Montreal on Wednesday
afternoon to face a variety of drug trafficking and possession charges.

Allard, who is well-known to police due to his connections with the Hells
Angels, Leblanc, a former RCMP constable, and Clark, were expected to
remain in custody until the next hearing.

SQ spokesperson Ronald McInnis said police had searched four residences,
two in downtown Montreal, one in Chateauguay, and another in the Laurentian
community of Lafontaine.

At a St. Catherine St. apartment in Montreal, police found packages
containing hash and marijuana, fully addressed and ready to go north by
express mail.

In the Chateauguay, police seized two Jeep Cherokees and $118,000 in cash.

At the Laurentian address, they seized four bottles of contraband booze, a
canning machine, and other evidence.

"The canning machine was used to package the drugs, which were then put
into a box, and shipped north," McInnis said.

The boxes were shipped with a phony return address, naming a fictitious
company.

Police also found a list of individuals in the North who apparently owed
money for drugs.

"It shows between $200,000 to $300,000 still owing," McInnes said. "Around
40 [Inuit] names were on the list."

Tuesday's seizures are the largest made so far during the joint two-year
drug investigation.

This operation was first called "Kakivak", and then renamed "Nordika." It
involved the SQ's organized crime squad in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue and
northern Quebec regions, the Kativik Regional Police Force, and Canada Post.

"We worked hard and this is the fruit of our labour," McInnis said.

McInnis said a continuing investigation would likely lead to more arrests.