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KANGIQTUGAAPIK/CLYDE RIVER - An unruly crowd in Clyde River threw rocks and revved snow machines earlier this month in an attempt to intimidate RCMP officers into surrendering drugs they were suspected of confiscating.

Around 1 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 11 around 50 to 60 people surrounded the officers' residence, accusing the police of intercepting marijuana on its way into the community, RCMP said.

"It's sad when the citizens in a community think that by joining together they can take what they want and get back what they think was theirs," said acting detachment commander Const. Allan Jago.

The detachment had received a few calls in the previous two days from residents warning the police about possible action. Police heard that several residents had gone to pick up drug packages from the post office, only to be informed the police had discovered their illegal contents. People thought the Clyde River RCMP had found the marijuana and were keeping it in the detachment office.

The crowd demanded the police open the building so they could get their drugs out.

After roughly an hour-long standoff, the crowd dispersed, thanks to the intervention of Mayor Andrew Iqalukjuak. Iqalukjuak told the mob in Inuktitut and English their aggressive assembly was against the law and that the RCMP did not have the missing drugs.

As of press time Iqalukjuak was unavailable to comment on the matter.

Const. Jago said it was fortunate the detachment was in the middle of a staff changeover at the time, so there were four RCMP members in town instead of the usual two.

Only one of the four was assigned to Clyde River's detachment full-time and one temporary member had been in town less than a day.

Jago said he is grateful to the four or five citizens who tried to calm the crowd and communicated with the RCMP. Regardless the crowd remained unruly until the mayor arrived and then "the situation came to a complete stop," Jago said.

The RCMP chose not to make any arrests at the time in order to "de-escalate the situation," according to Jago. They have not made any arrests since then because no one has been willing to testify against any particular individual.

"This is getting to be more of the norm, that people think they can take the laws into their own hands," Jago said.