By Barbara Dean-Simmons
Reprinted with permission from The Packet, November 2, 1993
Police seized 25 tons of hashish and arrested 16 people Saturday in what proved to be the largest bust in Newfoundland history.
At the provincial court in GrandFalls-Windsor Sunday, charges of conspiracy to traffic in a narcotic were laid against 12 men. They were George Henry Lagimonere, 46 , of Montreal, PQ; Ghislain Gauthier, 26, of St. Hyacinthe,PQ; Richard St. Amand, 32, of Longueuile, PQ; Donald Alexander Ross, 26, and Daniel Fernell Ross, 28, of Armdale, NS; Gregory Joseph Karam, 19, of Dartmouth, NS; Terry Freeman Forest, 27, of Spryfield, NS; Hillaire Joseph Cyr, 42, and Ovide Cyr, 32, of Grand Riviere, PQ; Daniel John Cosgrove, 32, Ernest Fredrick Hartling, 24, and Walter Allan Gerrior, 26, of Halifax, NS.
Four other persons arrested initially have been released.
The accused remained in police custody, pending a bail hearing today, Nov 2, at provincial court in St. John’s.
Inspector Brian Garvey, officer in charge, of federal policing with the RCMP, told the Packet Sunday that Saturday’s bust was the culmination of several months of investigation by RCMP in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec.
Police made their move early Saturday morning. More than 50 officers descended on the small Trinity Bay community of Little Heart’s Ease and seized two boats, one transport truck, and one five ton truck, and arrested thirteen people.
Three other people were arrested the same day at Nova Scotia.
Inspector Garvey said the drugs were taken from a transport truck at the wharf at Little Heart’s Ease and from Deer Harbour, an abandon community at the end of Random Island.
The RCMP were assisted during the investigation by the Department of National Defense and the Canadian Coast Guard.
The drugs seized Saturday were transported to Clarenville that same day by Coast Guard Ann Harvey.
The following morning a helicopter was used to remove the cargo of illegal drugs from Ann Harvey to the Newfoundland Hardwood dock. There, police placed the illegal drugs onto a transport truck. Inspector Garvey said the drugs will be eventually destroyed.
The Ann Harvey also towed into port the two vessels seized in Saturday’s bust. This is not the first major drug bust that have been made in this area. Six years ago police arrested nine people and confiscated 9 tons of hashish Nov 30 1987. The drugs were seized at Deer Harbour and Ireland’s Eye, an abandon community near Random Island. At the time it was the largest drug bust in Atlantic Canada with a street value close to $200 million.
Inspector Brian Garvey would not put a dollar value on the drugs seized Saturday.
He said the most important thing was that the RCMP were successful in confiscating the drugs.
The real test of our job is to intercept drug traffickers at an international level so it doesn’t hit the streets.
The inspector did say that the bust at Little Heart’s Ease is probably one of the largest, if not the largest, seizure of drugs in Atlantic Canada at this point.
Inspector Garvey would not say whether any more arrest are pending in connection with Saturday’s drug bust. He would only conclude that the investigation is continuing.
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Transcribed by Lester Green, April 2015
These transcriptions may contain human errors. As always, confirm these as you would any other source material.