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Rum run nets woman $400 fine

Dorothy Westerman
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 10/06) - A 24-year-old Yellowknife woman was ordered to pay a $400 fine in territorial court Tuesday after offering to ship overproof rum by airplane for a friend.

On Sept. 9, 2005, in Deline, a captain with North-Wright Air noticed a box on the aircraft which, when moved, sounded as if it had glass in it. However, the weigh bill said it contained dry goods.

Upon inspection of the box, three bottles of Bacardi 151 rum were discovered.

The woman who tried to send the package was charged with one count of offering to unlawfully transport dangerous goods without complying with safety regulations under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act.

The Crown told the court that such overproof rum is dangerous as it is flammable.

The maximum penalty for a first offence is a $50,000 fine, but the Crown also noted such a high fine is usually reserved for commercial infractions.

In his decision, Judge Brian Bruser told the woman that the sentence would be different if he were sentencing her for shipping alcohol into the alcohol-restricted community of Deline.

"The Crown says a fine of $400 would be appropriate and I see no reason to disagree," Bruser said.

A 15 per cent surcharge was tacked onto the fine and she was given three months to pay.