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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Staff at the Air Tindi floatbase in Old Town are a bit more on guard this week after an unidentified man carried off a box of meat destined for a fly-in camp on Friday.

During the flurry of activity that normally takes place prior to a charter flight leaving the base, the man walked onto the property and managed to leave with a case of meat without anyone realizing he wasn't supposed to be there, said Peter Arychuk, acting as spokesperson for Air Tindi.

"In amongst the business of planes coming and going, he had something figured out and got away with a box of meat," he said.

The stolen cargo was scheduled to accompany the charter flight to an unidentified fly-in camp, said Arychuk.

The small floatplane base can be quite busy leading up to a flight going out, he said. As many as 10 or 15 passengers would have been around the hangar.

Whoever the thief is, he flew under the radar and gave Air Tindi workers the impression he was supposed to be there, said Arychuk.

The meat thief was seen by workers loading the plane but it was assumed the person was a passenger until it was too late, he said.

"Which is unfortunate," he said. "We've never had any trouble down there before."

The theft was immediately reported to the RCMP, who are looking into the incident, said Arychuk. As of press time, no suspect had been identified.

RCMP Sgt. Brad Kaeding said police are investigating the incident, which occurred between 7:30 and 8:45 p.m.

As for Air Tindi, the company hopes to see the suspect caught, but has little hope of recovering the stolen food, said Arychuk. The heist has made the crew more cautious about who enters the floatplane base - something they previously hadn't thought much about, he said.

"It'll make us a little more aware," he said. "We've been pretty fortunate over the years. This stuff hasn't happened before."

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