Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Norman Wells (Oct 01/01) - Over-proof rum stuffed in bags or suitcases on planes may give drinkers more bang for their buck but airlines more bang than they bargained for.

Passengers are not allowed to carry alcohol that is above 70 per cent by volume, according to Transport Canada dangerous goods regulations.

Most bottles of liquor are 40 per cent but the common import by bootleggers into dry and restricted communities is Bacardi 151 proof rum, which is 75.5 per cent.

"Alcohol is flammable and something of that high proof would be highly flammable," explained Aklak Air manager Ken Dalton.

"If it happened to leak out (the danger would arise) if it leaked over wiring or anything static."

Bacardi 151-proof rum was stripped from the shelves of the Norman Wells and Fort Simpson liquor agencies in mid-August by the N.W.T. Liquor Commission.

It is the most common over-proof rum on the market. A dark, aromatic rum made in Guyana or the West Indies, many countries have banned it because of its high alcohol content, nearly twice the amount of alcohol as standard bottles.

"We have removed the over-proof product in communities that have restricted sales," the liquor commission's general manager Ron Courtoreille explained.

"Those restrictions were based on alcohol that was 40 per cent at the time (restrictions came in place)."

Courtoreille added that the territory's liquor commission will only truck or barge over-proof booze into areas that are not restricted, such as Yellowknife and Inuvik, prime bases for bootleggers.

He said flying it would result in too much paperwork since it falls under dangerous goods classification.

Fort Simpson liquor agency manager Lionel Nadio said management was careful who they sold the potent bottles to. Nadio said employees took it upon themselves to sell only to those they felt would drink responsibly.

"A lot of people don't really understand that if they downed it straight there was a good chance it would lead to alcohol poisoning," he said.

On Sept. 25, 21-year-old Tara McNeely received the maximum municipal bootlegging fine of $500 for transporting over-proof rum from Inuvik to Fort Good Hope on a medevac flight in August.

A passenger smuggling the rum is also opening themselves up to fines from Transport Canada.

"If it comes to the point that it is a big problem of people carrying it here we would have no choice but to inspect them," Dalton said, about the airline that serves mainly Delta communities.

Two other Fort Good Hope residents also recently received maximum fines for peddling booze.