DRUG SWEEP BAGS 63

YELLOWKNIFE -- A year-long police investigation that spread over two
provinces and the Northwest Territories has resulted in the North's
largest drug bust.

Police made 63 arrests and laid 153 charges after pre-dawn raids
yesterday in Yellowknife, Edmonton and Calgary, as well as Parry
Sound and Scarborough in Ontario.

The charges include selling cocaine, marijuana and MDA (an
amphetamine) as well as weapons offences that include selling
handguns.

"We didn't target users, but rather the highest-level traffickers we
could find," said Sgt. Dave Grundy of Yellowknife RCMP.

Grundy said the arrests have destroyed two separate organized crime
groups in the North. He emphasized none had links to outlaw biker
gangs, but wouldn't comment on links to any other organized crime
groups from the south.

"They're just people," he said of the arrested suspects. "They make
friends, they start off and they go from there."

Although police seized only small amounts of drugs, the raids did
yield $500,000 in cash and $250,000 in items such as vehicles,
carvings and jewelry believed to be proceeds of crime.

About 150 RCMP officers and three police dogs from British Columbia,
Alberta and Saskatchewan were involved in the investigation and raids.