NNSL (Mar 25/98) - Five Yellowknife cigarette merchants were warned a month ago not to sell tobacco to minors.

Now, a further crackdown could take place any day resulting in fines or jail terms instead of simply warning letters.

Nineteen Yellowknife outlets were targeted Feb. 23 through 27. Health Canada officials sent teens into stores to request cigarettes.

Five merchants, which Health Canada would not name, agreed to sell the tobacco products to local teens without asking for identification.

The test buyers then pleaded that they did not have enough money and left the stores empty-handed.

The next time, Health Canada will provide their youthful operatives with enough money to buy the cancer-causing products, according to Tobacco Enforcement Officer Anthony Hayduk.

"We want to be able to give them (merchants) a fair chance to be able to comply with the act," he said. "We will be coming back to Yellowknife and we've already given them a warning letter."

The warning letters outline applicable fines, what constitutes acceptable valid identification and alerts the merchants officers will return. The last time a tobacco inspector came to Yellowknife was about a year ago.

Inspectors not only watch whether merchants sell to minors but whether they have appropriate signage posted.

That means a white sign with a red border in English and French saying that it is prohibited by federal law to provide tobacco products to persons under 18 years old.

"As soon as you hand over a tobacco product to someone who is underage you are breaking the law," Hayduk said."

The Tobacco Act also forbids the sale of less than a full pack of cigarettes. The penalty for selling single cigarettes, for example, could be as severe as a $50,000 fine and a six-month jail sentence.

Two recent cases in Edmonton involved merchants convicted of selling less than a full pack and charged $250 and $150.

The law not only covers merchants but also friends, relatives or anyone else who offers tobacco products to minors.