Since last week's massive arrest of more than 70 people under RCMP's drug investigation known as Operation Guiness, one man has been sentenced, 12 charges have been withdrawn and other accused are awaiting court appearances
Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Nov 22/00) - The Yellowknife RCMP is continuing its drug investigation and charges are filtering into the court system.
Police arrested at least 70 people a week ago and have been holding show cause hearings to determine whether accused persons will remain in police custody or be released on promises to appear in court in January.
Some charges for at least 12 people have been withdrawn.
"The investigation is continuing Canada-wide with warrants for everyone who hasn't been picked up," said Sgt. Dave Grundy.
"We are now in a long, drawn out process. It is a big country and you can hide very easily."
Grundy would not disclose how many people are still being sought in the investigation called Operation Guiness.
First accused sentenced
A 51-year-old man was the first to be sentenced on a charge of trafficking marijuana Tuesday in territorial court in Yellowknife. He pleaded guilty and received four months in jail.
A civilian agent, working for the RCMP, was told to track down another individual in an attempt to buy drugs at the Right Spot Bar and Grill on Aug. 16.
Instead he met up with the man who offered to sell him marijuana in quarter ounces. The deal was not completed but under the criminal code, it still warranted enough evidence for a charge.
The man also had a lengthy record dating back to 1976 that is related to drug offenses.
Accused persons must appear before a justice of the peace before charges are sworn and available from the court.
As of Monday the court registry in Yellowknife had processed very few.
They included four charges of trafficking cocaine, 10 of trafficking marijuana and two of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Charges available from the registry also included one breach of an undertaking, four failures to comply with a probation order and one weapons trafficking offence.
On Tuesday more names and charges were released in territorial court and six people had show cause hearings that afternoon at the RCMP detachment. The results of those hearings were not available by deadline.
At least eight show cause hearings had been held before. Five people were released and three were detained.
