Photo by Photo Submitted
Supt. Chan Daktari Dara, of RCMP Criminal Operations, held a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Whitehorse detachment. On display was a large amount of what痴 believed to be fentanyl, crack cocaine, cocaine, $148,000 in cash and two handguns, one of them a Beretta with a silencer. (See story, p. 7.)
Photo by Vince Fedoroff
More than 1,000 pills of Total Dilaudid and Total Alprazo.
Photo by Vince Fedoroff
168.3 grams of a substance believed to be fentanyl.
Photo by Vince Fedoroff
A Beretta with a silencer, one of two prohibited semi-automatic handguns.
Photo by Vince Fedoroff
A Beretta with a silencer, one of two prohibited semi-automatic handguns.
Whitehorse RCMP are confident they’ve caused a significant disruption in the territorial drug trade with the arrests of eight people and the seizures of a large amount of drugs and cash.
Revised - Whitehorse RCMP are confident they’ve caused a significant disruption in the territorial drug trade with the arrests of eight people and the seizures of a large amount of drugs and cash.
Supt. Chan (Dak) Dara, the Yukon RCMP Officer in charge Criminal Operations, held a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
The purpose was to discuss the results of Project Monterey, a six-month investigation the Yukon RCMP Crime Reduction Unit began in late November 2021.
On June 1, Dara said, police arrested four people while executing search warrants on two residences in the city.
Those first four arrests involved Whitehorse residents Tyler Taylor, 30; Taylor Duke, 19; Jennifer Duke, 38; and Shavohn Bowe, 32.
Jennifer Duke provided the Star this morning with some paperwork indicating she was charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
Officers seized a large amount of drugs from the houses.
Just as disturbingly, the search also turned up two semi-automatic handguns. One was equipped with a silencer.
The substances included 528 grams of what appears to be cocaine, with a street value of $66,000.
The police also found 168.3 grams of what appeared to be fentanyl, which is an extremely large amount. The estimated value is $84,000.
The search also turned up 388 Dilaudid pills, with an $20,900 value, and 1,043 Benzodiazepine pills, carrying an estimated value of $7,700.
Cash totalling $148,000 was also confiscated.
Last Friday, the RCMP made four further arrests related to the case. All involved Whitehorse residents who are already incarcerated.
They are: Dominic Cormier, 24; Rodney Bailey, 49; Travis Evans, 39; and Kiara Hagen, 20.
The eight people are facing a total of 29 criminal charges related to drug trafficking, money laundering, firearms offences, and failing to comply with conditions.
Dara said they are also facing charges of “participation in the activities of a criminal organization.
“This is a charge that has been rarely used, if ever, in the Yukon,” he told reporters.
The sheer amount of drugs, plus the firearms, is indicative of ties to organized crime, Dara said.
Semi-automatic weapons equipped with silencers are almost unheard of in the territory.
“The drugs and illegally-possessed firearms seized through this investigation represent a significant disruption to drug trafficking in our territory,” Dara said.
This is one of the largest seizures he can remember seeing during his time in the territory.
He said the investigation is continuing into whether the group of people have any ties to the rash of overdose deaths that were seen in the first months of 2022.
The evidence collected through the investigation alleges the drugs were trafficked in Whitehorse, as well as Old Crow, Mayo and Dawson City.
In Whitehorse, the drugs were allegedly making their way to the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.
“Over the past five years in Yukon, trafficking offences relating to heroin, cocaine and other drugs have increased by 90 per cent,” Dara said.
“We can identify two significant reasons for the increase. First, there has been an influx of criminal groups in the territory involved in drug trafficking.
“However, a second significant reason for this 90 per cent increase in trafficking offences can be attributed to the increase in drug investigations conducted by the Yukon RCMP.”
Dara said a report on organized crime in the territory has been compiled, and will be released soon
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Comments (28)
Up 0 Down 1
MITCH on Jun 17, 2022 at 3:42 pm
"Why is there the demand for these drugs when pot is legal?"
Several reasons as follows:
If pot is a drug, I am a serial killer. Pot is no more a drug than aspirin. Thus the legalization not curtailing demand for harder, actual drugs. Further (citing personal and anecdotal experiences of peers) sometimes when your life is out of control, you want to ingest something that at least validates that sense of no control. It is also why people drink too much.
Finally, your question speaks to inexperience - the use of marijuana for aches and pains, headaches, upset stomach and recreational entertainment is in no way the same thing as recreational hard drug use or use to deal with chronic physical or emotional pain - it is literally the difference between Tylenol and vitamin D pills and Morphine and Fentanyl. No one doing these drugs can also afford pot. Hope that helps, a lot of people really really need it.
Up 12 Down 0
Austin on Jun 14, 2022 at 4:40 pm
@ Chuck Farley. Indictable or not let's see how this turns out in the courts. Like previous commenters have said these names are not new to the Court or Justice system and it will work out in their favour again as the Justice system has proven in the past. Duh yourself.
Up 5 Down 2
Chuck Farley on Jun 13, 2022 at 6:29 pm
Austin; these federal charges will not be summary but indictable which will require federal sentences and federal prison and not 2 years less a day at Whitehorse Corrections duh
Up 19 Down 2
Anie on Jun 13, 2022 at 3:40 pm
Juniper, I have mixed emotions whenever I read about drug addiction. Part of me thinks 'what the heck, if that's the life they want then leave them alone" and part of me thinks "what if that was my child ?" Intellectually, you know that this is not your fault, but emotionally you must be suffering. I wish all the experts, good and bad, who are trying to deal with this issue, would spend time listening to you because I think that only someone in your position, with your history, can offer credible advice. Please know that, although we cannot help, we do care.
Up 20 Down 2
Austin on Jun 13, 2022 at 2:13 pm
This is just a drop in the bucket. They will get a slap on the wrist and be back to doing what they were doing before. The RCMP try to put them away but the Justice system and their personal rights and freedoms set them free. All BS.
Up 34 Down 14
Groucho d'North on Jun 11, 2022 at 3:31 pm
@ My Opinion:
You ask:" So who is responsible for the dozen or so that died while they observed these clowns?" The dozen or so who died are the ones responsible. Despite all the efforts of Liberal governments to make all our decisions for us, we are still a free nation. Free to succeed or fail, Free to ingest known bad chemicals, free to drink and smoke if we so choose. More and more the Liberal governments are intruding into what we as individuals can or cannot do. Who gave them the mandate to change our lives because they think it is for our own good? We are on the slippery slope to totaltarianism.
Up 26 Down 3
Groucho d'North on Jun 11, 2022 at 9:49 am
Some readers may recall this issue being discussed many times in the past. There has been lots of opinions and suggestions on how to reduce the dangers of opioids and most of them pointed to dealing with the drug merchants in harsher terms. https://www.whitehorsestar.com/News/street-drug-crisis-policing-debated-in-house
So here we are, the stage has been set and we now wait for the so-called Justice system to do the work they are so well paid for. I don't expect too much will be different this time.
Up 19 Down 17
My Opinion on Jun 11, 2022 at 1:27 am
So this is the culmination of a six month investigation. So who is responsible for the dozen or so that died while they observed these clowns. Times are a changing and not for the better.
Up 47 Down 8
Juniper Jackson on Jun 10, 2022 at 11:00 pm
Nathan Living: 'Why is there the demand for these drugs when pot is legal?'
I have a user in my family. Legal pot doesn't mean anything to her. She started out on pot years ago, and moved into harder drugs for that extra 'buzz', a bigger kick. An addict can not have too much, of anything. Her preferred drug is crack, i think, but she will settle for anything. She is ALWAYS thinking about the next hit, or the next puff, or the next nose thing. She has a stash for when she doesn't have any money. I have 5 children, 4 professionals. And, my precious girl.. How many nights, days, searching for her, bringing her home, trying to lock her in, trying to get her to rehab. How many times did i ask myself, where did i go wrong? What did i do? Every Mom out there with an addict knows and lives with a broken heart, prays, Is afraid of that RCMP knock on the door. She says to me..why can't you just leave me alone? It's my life.. She doesn't want help..so I can't help her, no one can. But, i do the next best thing, I am there for her til the day I die, and if i hear, help me Mom, I'm right there.
Up 28 Down 23
bonanzajoe on Jun 10, 2022 at 4:33 pm
@BnR. Yukon is booming? You mean the government is booming. 80% of the jobs are in government. And as long as the Libs and NDP are in power, don't expect another Casino type mine. And besides, what demographic of the population are the most addicted to drugs, and what demographic of the population are dealing in it? Let's hear those facts for a change. It might help solve a lot of the problem.
Up 39 Down 7
bonanzajoe on Jun 10, 2022 at 4:27 pm
Sorry Juniper Jackson, there won't be a shortage of drugs in the Yukon. Unlike the food stores, the drug dealers shelves will be full. And that $148,000 dollars? Petty cash to them.
Up 49 Down 7
bonanzajoe on Jun 10, 2022 at 4:23 pm
@melba. The mounties may have done a good work, but the judges will undo it all. And as far as prison time, it will be light sentences with 3 for 1, time served. They will back on the street within 18 months. If they get jailed at all.
Up 25 Down 5
bonanzajoe on Jun 10, 2022 at 4:20 pm
@Jake: Or at least complict in murders, or accessory to murder.
Up 42 Down 4
tnk on Jun 10, 2022 at 3:34 pm
Great that they arrested them and yet (according to the other article I read), RIDICULOUS they have already let some go on bail. So stupid they are selling or involved in selling terrible drugs freaking fentanyl and bringing it into our communities, and they get bail with less then a week of getting arrested is a joke.
They should not be given that opportunity just like that big bust last year involving drugs/stolen goods/money laundering and like 8 businesses in town that were involved with drug money. What was the result? Some didn't even end up in jail and the businesses are still going. If your going to stop these people from selling don't give bail, and put them in jail for a long time. They should be banned from coming back to the Yukon - if we could just kick them out !!!
Up 22 Down 11
Nathan Living on Jun 10, 2022 at 1:32 pm
Why is there the demand for these drugs when pot is legal?
Up 77 Down 3
Jen on Jun 10, 2022 at 11:48 am
Doesn’t surprise me. A few of those names (and their families) have been selling for years. Glad they have been busted.
Up 56 Down 2
TheHammer on Jun 10, 2022 at 10:37 am
Tip of the iceberg.
Up 52 Down 2
BnR on Jun 10, 2022 at 7:20 am
The grifters and miscreants follow the booms wherever they are. The current proliferation of the drug trade in our Yukon is no different than back in 1898 when Soapy Smith and his crew moved up to Skagway. Same with what happened to Ft Mac when oil boomed. The Alyeska pipeline changed Alaska forever, and old timers say it wasn’t for the better.
The Yukon has changed, things are booming, and if you think this is bad, wait until a mine like Casino gets rolling. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
Up 78 Down 3
martin on Jun 9, 2022 at 10:51 pm
Congratulations to the RCMP; it is a good start. Please redouble your efforts.
Up 81 Down 3
moe on Jun 9, 2022 at 9:59 pm
People are dying from these drugs at the highest rates in Canada. These drug dealers know that, and could not care less if the people they sell their fentanyl etc. to die of an accidental overdose. What does that make them? Pretty much murderers in my opinion.
Up 63 Down 8
Juniper Jackson on Jun 9, 2022 at 9:01 pm
There are a lot of people out there crying like babies right now. All those drugs off the street, not available for purchase. The very amount of drugs seized pays testament to how many users there are in the Yukon. It's a market like anything else.. There is no solution. Really.. there isn't. Make help available, but if someone doesn't want to change, they won't, and you, me or anyone else can't make them. Legal pot did not stop pot sellers, and legalizing street drugs won't stop pushers.
I am really glad that there are 8 less pushers. They are rotten human beings. I would hope that they would go to prison forever, but of course, it's the Yukon, who knows how high up the social ladder their clients go. Not all addicts are wearing dirty clothes, sitting on a curb begging.
Up 51 Down 20
bonanzajoe on Jun 9, 2022 at 8:13 pm
Strange they didn't mention the major reason for the increase in drug crime in Yukon, and that is the judges keep letting the perps go free before court appearances. So, that tells me that the judges could solve most of this problem. Then, why don't they? Oh yeah, it's the liberal/NDP run governments who's main psychology is not to punish the criminals.
Up 56 Down 13
That's going to be a lot... on Jun 9, 2022 at 7:22 pm
...of healing circles and Glaude reports.
Curious if any actual jail time will happen.
Up 31 Down 22
Amicus Illogicus on Jun 9, 2022 at 6:13 pm
I said whaattttt? Are you you f$@&ing serious?
“However, a second significant reason for this 90 per cent increase in trafficking offences can be attributed to the increase in drug investigations conducted by the Yukon RCMP.”
What you are telling me, as the Star wrote, is that drug dealers commit more drug related offences when the RCMP conduct more investigations. This can’t be from the RCMP Intelligence Unit?? No?
Policing in the Field of Dreams… Investigate it and they will come? Lookout drug dealers they are tricking you!
A more reasonable explanation as to the increases in drug offences is that drug dealers and other members of the violent crime persuasion have been emboldened by lax Liberalized laws, and lenient sentences, in the milieu of a Liberalized acceptance of drug use… Dope it and they will vote! Other socioeconomic factors such as the current push of Death Cult Liberalism, runaway inflation and a general acceptance of lawlessness and no real accountability for bad decision-makers… FFS!
I’d want to be stoned too but I, like many others, have to work to payoff and stave off the Liberal debt machine.
Remember when JT said you will own nothing and be happy - Here it comes:
Bank of Canada says some Canadians could see mortgage payments jump by 45% in 2025-26 as rates rise. Central bank highlights rising debt loads and falling home prices among risks.
https://financialpost.com/news/economy/bank-of-canada-financial-system-review-mortgage-payments
So, WTF Dan? Try again! Drug offences are not increasing because the RCMP are investigating drug crimes. If that’s the case then the way to stop crime is to not investigate it? You can’t make this shyt up if you tried but god forbid, it could actually be a truth in todays Liberal fantasy - SMH!
Up 60 Down 8
Tim on Jun 9, 2022 at 5:37 pm
And of course they are all released on a promise to appear!
Up 70 Down 1
George Moss on Jun 9, 2022 at 5:26 pm
Good I just wish they woulda all bin forced to consume what they pedaled to the public.
Up 74 Down 3
melba on Jun 9, 2022 at 4:53 pm
Fantastic work! I don't know who's shaking it up at the RCMP, but they are nabbing a lot of losers and exposing the drug scene that has flown under the radar for years.
Lazy, stupid, greedy - these are the qualities possessed by a drug dealer. No doubt they think they are 'gansta' geniuses. They're a joke and I hope they go to jail for a long time.
Up 73 Down 1
Jake on Jun 9, 2022 at 4:23 pm
Check for drugs for fentanyl if any - charge the whole bunch with murder.