Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Aug 01/05) - Four Nunavummiut charged following a drug bust spanning Nunavut and Quebec are going to trial.

All four have been charged with conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance, conspiracy to launder proceeds of a crime, committing an indictable offence at the direction of a criminal organization and possession of the proceeds of a crime.

Two of the four are back in their communities, while two are being held in a Montreal jail pending their trial.

Luke Piungituq is back in Clyde River and will go to trial in Montreal on Sept. 22.

Elizabeth Novalinga has also been released back to her Sanikiluaq home, waiting for her day in a Montreal courtroom on Sept. 20.

Bobby Eyaituk and Isaac Amitook from Sanikiluaq will both be tried on Aug. 10. They are being held in Montreal.

On May 31, more than 200 police officers in Quebec, Nunavik and Nunavut arrested 45 people in connection with a mail-order marijuana operation.

The crack-down was dubbed Project Crystal by the RCMP's aboriginal combined forces special enforcement unit.

The RCMP report that between four and six kilograms of marijuana were shipped weekly to Northern communities, worth between $150,000 and $250,000 in income.

Project Crystal resulted in 325 charges being laid against 45 people. RCMP have identified Marcello Ruggiero of Terrebonne, Que., as the "mastermind" of the operation.