SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
An owner of Jerrie's Delivery Service was among eight arrested Thursday and charged with drug-related offenses as part of an RCMP investigation into fentanyl trafficking.

Norman Hache is listed in corporate records as the owner of Jerrie's Delivery Service with Order of Canada member Arlene Hache.

The company's website lists its services as deliveries from grocery stores, flower shops, restaurants, parcels, "AND MUCH MORE!!!"

Police aren't saying if the company was involved in drug distribution. The company's phone number goes to voice-mail. Arlene Hache did not comment by press time.

The arrests were part of "Project Green Manalishi," the code name for the year-long investigation police stated in a news release focused on two networks operating in Yellowknife and other communities in the territory. The Green Manalishi is a song by rock group Fleetwood Mac but can also refer to an item or person that steals one's soul.

Police carried out five search warrants Thursday, arresting and later charging eight people, RCMP Sgt. Alexandre Laporte stated in a news release. The searches resulting in police seizing fentanyl pills, crack cocaine, cocaine, psilocybin (a psychedelic compound found in some mushrooms), marijuana, anabolic steroids, vehicles, firearms and cash. Specific amounts of drugs seized have not been released.

Fentanyl has resulted in a steady increase in overdose deaths - more than 200 in Alberta last year alone - and is about 20 times more powerful than heroin. Five people in the NWT have died with fentanyl in their system since 2009, although the people often had a mix of drugs or alcohol.

The latest charges were announced days after six other search warrants were carried out in Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah.

Green Manalishi, which began last year and has involved 50 officers, has resulted in 21 charged so far.

Most of the people charged earlier this month are due back in court May 3. Those most recently charged were expected in court Tuesday morning.

Not all of those charged are in custody. Arrest warrants have been issued for Devon Herback, Dola-Bode Harrison, and Lacey Forrest.

The first round of arrests and charges targeted a network police allege was headed by Todd Dube, 20, of Yellowknife. Attempts to reach a lawyer representing Dube were not successful.

RCMP Sgt. Dean Riou, with the G Division federal investigations unit said the alleged networks were at one point connected but had separated. That's why the busts were separate, he said.

During an RCMP news conference to show off the haul from the earlier search warrants, police said the network run by Dube was a "24-hour drug trafficking operation, which utilized an extensive network of taxi cabs."

Police did not answer what company was involved, saying that information would come out in court.

It's not the first time Norman Hache or the business he took over in the fall of 2014 has been linked to drugs. He has a 2000 conviction for trafficking.

Hache was named by RCMP last year in a document filed to obtain a search warrant that was part of an investigation resulting in a large seizure of fentanyl, crack and powder cocaine and marijuana last April and charges against William Nelson Castro.

The document states a probation officer for Castro had said he worked as a driver for Jerrie's Delivery.

Documents filed to obtain a search warrant - especially in drug cases - are often sealed to protect sources of information used in the investigation. Yellowknifer first read and took notes about the document last summer when it was publicly accessible at the courthouse. On Monday, the document was no long accessible. It's not clear why.

Castro was sentenced Dec. 21 last year to five years in prison for possession for the purpose of trafficking fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana. NWT Supreme Court Justice Louise Charbonneau noted this was the first time the court had dealt with the trafficking of fentanyl. It was noted a single pill could sell here for between $80 and $100.

"If fentanyl is trafficked more frequently here, there is no reason to expect that the same tragic outcomes as has been noted in other provinces, such as British Columbia and Alberta, will not occur here," Charbonneau said when sentencing Castro, referring to deaths attributed to the fentanyl use.

During another case last year, an inmate at the North Slave Correctional Centre was waiting for a flight home to Nunavut at the Yellowknife airport with corrections officers when a Jerrie's Delivery driver handed the inmate a box. The box contained 99 grams of marijuana.

The inmate, Patsy Novoligak, was released June 10 after time served for the drug possession charge.

Hours later, he was back in custody as one of four people arrested outside a Range Lake Road business.

At the time, police stated officers with a unit that investigates drug activity were in the area and observed suspicious activity while carrying out a separate investigation.

One of the other four was Todd Dube and his older sister, Brittany Dube, who was also charged this month.

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