DRUG BUSTS OFFER GLIMPSE INTO MONTREAL-NUNAVIK DRUG TRADE

"This is bigger than you can imagine"

A series of recent arrests in Montreal and Inukjuak have netted several
kilograms of marijuana, hashish and hashish oil.

But this is just a small part of the rapidly growing market for drugs and
booze in Nunavik that involves many people, police say.

On May 12, the RCMP arrested Boulaem Laichi, 50, in Montreal.

Boulaem, a former bellhop at the Manoir Lemoyne hotel, was found in
possession of a large quantity of drugs bound for Nunavik. The Manoir
Lemoyne (now the Clarion), is a suite hotel on De Maisonneuve West that's
popular with visiting northerners.

Boulaem faces charges of conspiracy, possession, and possession for the
purpose of trafficking.

At the same time, Kativik Regional Police Force constables arrested two
people in Inukjuak. Charges are pending.

These recent drug-scoops resulted from a province-wide operation called
"Chinook," involving the RCMP, the Surete du Quebec, and the KRPF, intended
to clamp the flow of drugs to Nunavik.

"This is an ongoing operation and there will be more arrests to follow.
This is bigger than you can imagine," said KRPF police chief Brian Jones.
"This is the first phase of more charges to come in Nunavik and in the South."

Police suspect that criminal elements outside the region and even outside
Quebec, as well as terrorist organizations, are masterminding the
multi-million dollar drug trade in Nunavik.

Since the beginning of 2004, police in Nunavik have seized more than 20
kilos of drugs, including so-called "hard" drugs such as cocaine and crack
cocaine.

"The more we look for, the more we find," Jones said.

Last year, about 46 kilos of drugs were seized in Nunavik, but if police
were able to carry out seizures daily, Jones estimates his officers would
easily seize more than 400 kilos a year.

This amount of drugs would have an approximate street value of $21 million
in Nunavik.

Another $10 million is spent on alcohol. Quebec's alcohol corporation, la
Societe des alcools du Quebec, sells 47,500 bottles of booze a year in
Nunavik for sales of $1 million, while grocery stores sell $3.2 million,
and bars in Kuujjuaq and Kuujjuaraapik rack up more than $4 million in
alcohol sales a year.

"And more is bootlegged," Jones said.

The KRPF is encouraging Nunavummiut to continue giving the police
confidential information about drug deals and bootlegging so they can
continue seizures of drugs and illegally sold booze.

"They can remain anonymous, but we want to encourage people to support this
sort of thing," Jones said. "We have to get people to realize it's a problem."

The magnitude of the problem doesn't surprise Andy Moorhouse, mayor of
Inukjuak. He'd like to see people in his community stop spending money on
booze and drugs, but, to do that, they need a community-wide rehabilitation
plan.

"That's what we'd like to see, if the health board could work with us on
this," Moorhouse said.

"If we completely eliminate alcohol or drugs, the activity will just get
worse, they'll turn to sniffing, violence and all that. I would rather have
the people do drugs than go crazy and start sniffing."