MONEY TALKS IN DRUG ARRESTS

Police, Quaqtaq council use rewards to lure drug tips

A new tips reward project has helped the town of Quaqtaq and Kativik
Regional Police seize about a kilogram of marijuana and arrest five drug
dealers.

Since the end of January, Quaqtaq's municipal council has posted rewards
worth $1,000 each for tips on drug shipments and dealers.

The rewards allowed police to net more than 975 grams of marijuana with a
Nunavik street value of $51,465 and confiscate $2,685 in drug-related cash,
Johnny Oovaut, the mayor of Quaqtaq, said this week.

Oovaut said municipal council and police decided to offer money to combat
Nunavik's estimated $20 million a year drug business.

"People were reluctant to give information to the police and there's been
too many complaints about drug use," Oovaut said. "I came up with the idea
[to offer rewards] and police decided to work with me."

So far the community has handed over four rewards, he said.

The rewards are a kind of pilot project with both the village of Quaqtaq
and the KRPF supplying the reward money, Oovaut said.

Though the mayor hopes it will continue in the future, he said the $1,000
rewards could be too expensive to offer long-term. The municipal council is
considering keeping the program but reducing the payouts.

"I wish people would give out information just to try and help the
community," Oovaut said. "It [drug use] is a big problem if you can have
five pushers for a very small community of 300."

Oovaut said the municipality is also considering other ways of curbing drug
use in the village. This includes developing more preventative programs for
drug addicts.

Brian Jones, chief of the Kativik Regional Police Force, confirmed the
rewards played an integral part in the Quaqtaq arrests and seizures. He
said the reward program has been going on across Nunavik for roughly six
months.

He said the amount of the Quaqtaq rewards was exceptional.

"It's not always going to be that high. It depends on the seizure and the
amount seized," he said.

Last week, police seized a box of money travelling from Akulivik to
Kuujjuaraapik. The frozen foods box contained $3,100 from drug deals in
Aklulivik, a police press release said.

This year's KRPF drug confiscation tally keeps growing. This month alone,
the police force has confiscated $39,000 in drug money.