Yellowknife RCMP say a check stop on Highway 3 led to the arrest of three men, including two from outside the NWT, and the seizure of a “significant amount” of cash and drugs.
According to a Wednesday news release, just before 1am on August 3, RCMP stopped a vehicle at the check stop near Yellowknife and smelled “an odour of cannabis” coming from the vehicle. Police said they searched the vehicle and found $13,195 in cash and 37 grams of marijuana.
Officers “formed grounds to believe” the driver of the vehicle, Matthew Wedawin, 21, from Behchokǫ̀, was involved in drug trafficking. Wedawin was later released without charges, RCMP said.
Police said they subsequently “gathered further evidence” of offences and executed two search warrants on properties in Yellowknife on August 7 with assistance of emergency response team RCMP members from Alberta, Yukon, Saskatchewan and Ontario.
At a house in Niven, police said they found “several thousand dollars of cash” and multiple bags of suspected cocaine.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
During the search of a commercial property, RCMP said they found drug trafficking paraphernalia and more cash.
Police arrested Fadil Soboyede, 18, from Toronto and Nathnael Tafachu, 22, from British Columbia during the search of the Niven residence. RCMP said officers found drugs, cash and a cell phone on Tafachu.
Officers arrested Wedawin at the Yellowknife airport on August 9.
RCMP said they seized a total of $37,068 in cash and 133 grams of suspected cocaine during the searches and arrests.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Police said they have charged Wedawin with possessing property obtained by crime over $5,000, trafficking cocaine and, possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Tafachu and Soboyede face charges of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possessing property obtained by crime over $5,000.
While RCMP initially said all three suspects had been released from custody, they issued a correction shortly afterward stating the suspects had actually been remanded into custody and are scheduled to appear in court at a later date.
