How N.W.T. RCMP intercepted one package of crack cocaine sent by mail

A suspicious employee at an N.W.T. airline helped intercept 240 grams of crack cocaine destined for the territory's streets.

A police search warrant document requesting access to open the package details why the parcel was deemed suspicious.

The warrant describes the employee receiving the parcel on June 1 and noticing that the handwriting on its slip matched the handwriting of a package that RCMP had seized the week before.

Both packages were sealed and taped on their edges, which the employee told police is also unusual.

In the employee's experience with the last suspicious parcel, the person who came to pick up the package wanted to pay in cash. When they were told they couldn't, they came back with a prepaid card from Walmart.

The employee said the recipient also used a status card that the employee hadn't seen before, whichmade it difficult to confirm their identity.

When the employee called the June 1 package's "receiver," they reached a voicemail that seemed to belong to someone else.

When a woman came to retrieve the package, she arrived in a taxi, presented a SaskatchewanIDand the employee said she appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

The employee told her that RCMP had intercepted the package.

Shortly after, a man called the airline from a blocked number asking about the parcel's whereabouts. The employee said that after informing him of the interception, he seemed angry and concerned about police involvement. He refused to tell the employee his name.

According to police records, the receiver of the package was arrested and charged with possession of crack-cocaine for the purpose of trafficking in April. In the search warrant, police say he was driving from Edmonton and was stopped near Hay River with over 200 grams of crack-cocaine in the vehicle.

Police dog Kola helped to identify the package as contraband before police obtained the search warrant and found the crack-cocaine.

On June 8, RCMP announced that 240 grams of suspected crack cocaine had been seized from a package in transit.

No arrests have been made on this matter and the case remains under investigation.

RCMP said that the package was sent from a southern province but couldn't be more specific for fear of jeopardizing the investigation.

In an email RCMP insp. Dean Riou said that police have investigative methods to detect and disrupt the flow of drugs into communities whether by road, air or mail.

N.W.T.RCMP havewarnedof fentanyl and carfentanyl contaminating cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana and psilocybin like magic mushrooms in the territory.

Those substances led to six opioid-related deaths last year, double the three opioid related deaths in 2021 and 2020 respectively.

"On a daily basis the RCMP members and other front-line first responders see the negative effects the drug trade has on our communities and our citizens," Riou said. "The RCMP make every effort to proactively investigate the people who choose profit over the wellness of communities."