RCMP make ‘NWT’s largest cocaine seizure’ outside Behchokǫ̀

Police in the NWT say they have seized more than five kilos of suspected cocaine after stopping a speeding vehicle near Mosquito Creek, south of Behchokǫ̀.

If verified by testing, that would surpass a 4.7-kg seizure reported in February as the territory’s largest at the time.

At a Friday news conference, police said the discovery came after a vehicle was pulled over on the afternoon of Sunday, October 26.

Officers “formed grounds to believe that the driver and lone occupant was engaged in drug trafficking activity,” police stated, and found “six vacuum-sealed packages appearing to contain illicit drugs inside the vehicle.”

Police initially described the seizure as more than six kilos of suspected cocaine but later revised that figure down to 5.4 kg, adding that the sixth package contained about a kilo of an unknown substance.

RCMP said a 39-year-old named as Akashdeep Dhillon of British Columbia had been charged with possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. He has been remanded into custody, police added.

The investigation continues.

Chief Supt Dyson Smith, NWT RCMP’s commanding officer, acknowledged the seizure relied on good fortune from the perspective of police – the vehicle attracted officers’ attention by speeding, RCMP said.

But Smith said the broader introduction of a drug strategy was paying off.

“Over the last couple of years, we have seen an increase in the activity but we’ve also seen an increase in the enforcement and the results,” he told reporters.

“We’ve seized handguns, we’ve seized other weapons, and we’ve seized lots of cash and drugs over the last couple of years. It’s been a real collective lift.

“It has been a concerted effort to try to keep our communities safer, and it is starting to see these kind of results … We’re trying to look at new ways to basically get our people out on the road more, to be able to have the opportunities for these type of interdictions.”