POLICE TAKE DOWN DRUG RING

Seven Charged With Dealing Prescription Pills In Pictou Area

STELLARTON - Pink streaks were just starting across the sky and the
neighbours were still asleep Thursday morning when police banged on the
door of a Stellarton home.

Less than half an hour later, they left with an occupant of the house,
[NAME DELETED], just as his friends arrived to take him to work.

"He's not going to work today," an officer told them as [NAME DELETED], a
pale, slight, dishevelled man, was led handcuffed to a police cruiser.

[NAME DELETED], 31, one of seven men arrested Thursday morning, spent the
day pondering eight drug charges.

Police from New Glasgow, Stellarton and Trenton, a search dog, RCMP drug
investigators from Truro and Mounties from the Pictou County district
detachment simultaneously raided several homes in the area around 5:30 a.m.

They seized prescription drugs, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and money,
displaying some of it for reporters at the Stellarton RCMP detachment later
in the day.

Authorities were tight-lipped about the total amount or the potential
street value of drugs seized in the five-month investigation.

By late afternoon, police were still compiling evidence and said they
expect to charge more suspects in the next few days.

Hydromorphon contin, similar to Dilaudid; pills from the Valium family;
marijuana; a coffee grinder filled with an unidentified substance; and
cocaine were among the illegal items seized.

"It's a significant seizure for this particular area," said RCMP spokesman
Const. Gary Smith.

"Getting these drugs off the street makes this community safer," he said.

"It will definitely send a message," added New Glasgow police spokesman
Const. Ken MacDonald.

The search for money to fund illegal use of prescription drugs is behind
many thefts in the area, creating both a criminal and a social problem,
Const. Smith said.

The pills enter the illegal market when someone with a legal prescription
for the strong painkillers sells them, he said.

Police intend to find those selling their prescriptions and charge them
too, he added.

The suspects range in age from 22 to 54, representative of the age group
using prescription medications illegally, Const. Smith said.

The joint task force made arrests in Stellarton, Trenton, the Pictou
Landing First Nation, and rural Pictou County communities, demonstrating
that the problem spans the whole community, Const. MacDonald said.

[NAME DELETED] faces three counts of trafficking in hydromorphon contin and
three of conspiring to traffic the drug, and one charge each of trafficking
marijuana and breaching probation.

[NAME DELETED], 39, of Pictou Landing, is charged with two counts of
trafficking cannabis, and one charge each of trafficking cocaine,
conspiring to traffic cocaine and breaching probation.

[NAME DELETED], 54, of Chance Harbour, is charged with two counts of
trafficking marijuana.

Two 22-year-old Stellarton men and a pair of Pictou Landing men aged 27 and
44 were also arrested but have not yet made court appearances.