SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 30-year-old Behchoko man will spend two weeks working at a mining camp then two weeks serving time in jail after pleading guilty to trafficking drugs.

RCMP were tipped off that a flight arriving in Whati was carrying a package containing marijuana. Police intercepted the parcel on June 24 and found seven grams of marijuana inside.

The offender sent the marijuana to a 17-year-old Whati girl who had intended to sell the drugs on a canoe trip to Gameti, according to the agreed statement of facts read in court. The girl has been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking and will be in court on Jan. 12 in Whati.

Crown prosecutor Jeannie Wynne-Edwards said a gram of marijuana sells for about $30 in Whati, making the total value of the seized drugs close to $210.

"What you did is very serious," Judge Brian Bruser told the man on Nov. 17.

Wynne-Edwards recommended a fine of $800 to $1,000, noting the man's limited criminal record with no related convictions, and his early guilty pleas - though she did say the young age of the girl the man sent the drugs to was "aggravating."

Bruser said a fine is too light a sentence for this type of crime.

"Our small communities are extremely vulnerable to these activities," he said. "In this jurisdiction, those who traffic in drugs can expect the court to consider jail time."

The offender is currently employed at a diamond mine and works on rotation two-weeks in and two-weeks out. His lawyer, Tracy Bock, requested the court consider an intermittent sentence, where the man could keep his job while serving the sentence.

Bruser agreed and sentenced him to 30 days in jail, to be served at North Slave Correctional Centre when the man is not working.

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