KRPF PROMISES MORE ARRESTS IN MASSIVE DRUG BUST

Three people arrested, more than 15 kilograms of illegal drugs seized

The Kativik Regional Police Force put eastern Arctic drug dealers on notice
May 1, warning a recent police operation that seized 15 kilograms of
illegal drugs and arrested three people is only the start of a major crackdown.

Police issued a press release last week saying "Operation White Fox" had
hauled in enough bootlegged alcohol and illegal marijuana, hash and cocaine
to fetch $800,000 in Nunavik.

So far, the police have made only three arrests in connection with the
operation. But Brian Jones, chief of Nunavik's regional police force,
promised more arrests would follow in the coming weeks.

The police have opened 50 files, involving at least 46 individuals, in
connection with the operation.

"If we get into specifics everybody is going to know what we're up to.
Let's just say we have quite a few people to meet in Nunavut, with the
co-operation of the RCMP, and we have a lot of people in Nunavik and people
in the South," Jones said.

The regional police began "White Fox" April 7 as part of an ongoing
campaign against Nunavik's illegal alcohol and drug trade.

It is the force's largest return on a single operation since the KRPF took
over policing in 1995, Jones said, affecting almost every community in
Nunavik and some in Nunavut.

The operation also marks the beginning of increased communication between
the KRPF and other police organizations, notably Nunavut's V division, he said.

"If everybody puts their resources together, the results speak for
themselves. It's a team effort. Everybody's putting something into it. It
goes to show what the impact can be," Jones said.

Jones said the two police forces have always co-operated, but have
fine-tuned their collaboration in recent months.

"We've opened up a new communication system with the RCMP in Nunavut. Some
of our operations touch them, so communication with them, getting them
onside and them sharing their information that they have on people and then
interconnecting all that stuff, [has improved]," Jones said.

Cpl. Ken Goodine, who works with the RCMP's drug section in Iqaluit, agreed
that although communication between the two organizations is not new, it
has proved very effective in this latest operation.

Though the project did not lead to any arrests or drug seizures in Nunavut,
Goodine said, it could in the future. He also stressed that the operation
focused on stemming the inflow of drugs from southern points such as Ottawa
and Montreal. This, he said, will obviously make work at police
organizations easier.

"There's no doubt in my mind that different routes are needed to circumvent
the process [of drugs arriving in the North]," Goodine said.

"These past few months we've realized in both our areas the supply routes
are the same for Nunavik and Nunavut and some of the suppliers are the same
so it only makes sense we should combine our efforts ... because once it
gets here and spreads around it makes it much more difficult to achieve our
goals."

The Surete du Quebec, other aboriginal police organizations, Canada
Customs, Canada Post and local informants also helped with the endeavor.

The drug smugglers used an assortment of inventive packaging to hide their
illegal shipments. In Kuujjuaq, police nabbed 1.8 kilograms of marijuana
that was meant for an individual living in the tiny village of Aupaluk. The
drug was divided into plastic bags and then stuffed into seven packages of
raw hamburger meat.

Police also seized 300 grams of marijuana heading for Quaqtaq. It was
hidden in a powder-filled laundry detergent box.

Jones would not comment on what the large amount of seized drugs revealed
about the extent of the region's drug and alcohol problems.

"I wouldn't like to get involved with that part. That's a social issue.
There are other people who are better qualified to answer that. We are
doing our part," Jones said.

Jones would not release the names of the people arrested because they had
not yet been formally charged.