DRUG FUNDS GIVEN OVER TO CROWN

The slightly more than $51,000 in drug money seized last November
from a teenaged girl before her flight to Vancouver was able to leave
the territory has been forfeited to the Crown.

Acting on a tip, the local RCMP's drug section seized the $51,070 in
cash from the female youth at the Whitehorse airport Nov. 7.

Crown prosecutor David McWhinnie was in court last month to make an
application to detain a number of items seized from the young woman,
who isn't being charged with anything. Nor does he expect her to be
charged, he said.

Along with the money, a black Versace knapsack, a plastic bag, a
paperback novel ironically titled The Carrier, Air Canada
Whitehorse/Vancouver boarding passes for Oct. 21 and Nov. 7, a ticket
holder and several receipts are being detained by the Crown for a
year.

The money would appear to be drug money or be connected to a drug
transaction, McWhinnie said, and it appears the teen was used by
unknown persons to transport the funds from one place to another. He
added that it's unclear if the young woman knows who owned the money.

She and her mother were in court and relinquished any claim to the cash.

Because the money's owners aren't known, most of the money is being
handed over to the Crown. A small amount is being held by the RCMP as
a potential court exhibit if they're able to uncover more individuals
involved. That investigation continues, the prosecutor said.

Police said at the time no drugs were found on the young woman, who
they said was from Vancouver.

McWhinnie noted the RCMP were able to intercept the drug money before
it ended up in the hands of people involved in criminal activity.

"It's a mark of some success on their part so far to get part-way to
the bottom of this," he said.