Liban Mohamood Mohammed was sentenced Friday to five-and-a-half years in prison for the possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime.
Mohammed, 29, was arrested in 2017 after he was found with 294 grams of cocaine, $52,325, a digital scale with white residue, cellphones, and other trafficking paraphernalia in a Yellowknife apartment.
In their sentencing submissions, Crown and defence lawyers disagreed on whether this was a case of commercial or wholesale trafficking.
Crown Prosecutor Brendan Green said that given the quantity of the drug, the sentence should reflect a wholesale trafficking level of operation. He suggested a sentence of six years in custody.
Defence lawyer Jake Chadi said that while Mohammed SA国际影视传媒渋s on the higher end of the street-level trafficking hierarchy,SA国际影视传媒� it is SA国际影视传媒渟till street-levelSA国际影视传媒� and sought three-and-a-half to four years imprisonment.
Chadi argued that wholesale is not a matter of quantity, but rather of placement in the trafficking hierarchy and that there is not enough to indicate Mohammed would be on the wholesale level.
In delivering her sentence, Justice Shannon Smallwood ultimately sided with the Crown.
During MohammedSA国际影视传媒檚 trial for the case, an officer said it was his opinion that Mohammed was likely to be at the head of the Yellowknife drug trafficking operation with perhaps one or two street sellers.
Smallwood referred to that testimony in her decision and said she would accept the position that this case was on the wholesale level, based on the quantity of cocaine found and the other trafficking paraphernalia.
At the time of his arrest, Mohammed was still on parole for a similar drug trafficking offence from 2015. One of the conditions of his parole was that he remain in Calgary.
In her decision, Smallwood said that there appeared to be SA国际影视传媒渘o legitimate reason (for Mohammed) to be in the Northwest Territories.SA国际影视传媒�
She also told the court of evidence that he was sending money back to his wife in Alberta though there is no indication he had a SA国际影视传媒渓egitimate source of income.SA国际影视传媒�
Smallwood acknowledged the SA国际影视传媒減revalenceSA国际影视传媒� of drug related crimes in the North.
She said that MohammedSA国际影视传媒檚 actions SA国际影视传媒減rey on the most vulnerable community members for profit,SA国际影视传媒� and that cocaine is SA国际影视传媒渄estroying lives and tearing apart families.
SA国际影视传媒�(Mohammed is) one of the many Southern drug dealers who come to Yellowknife because they know there is a demand and it is a lucrative enterprise,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淢r. Mohammed might want to reconsider coming back to Yellowknife in the future.SA国际影视传媒�
Smallwood said that GreenSA国际影视传媒檚 recommendation of six years is SA国际影视传媒渞easonableSA国际影视传媒� and that she SA国际影视传媒渃ould easily accept it.SA国际影视传媒� She said, however, that she would exercise restraint.
After applying the credit Mohammed has earned for pre-trial custody, he has a remaining 58 months to serve.
In the pre-sentence report prepared for sentencing, Mohammed said that he does not take responsibility and that he intends to appeal the decision.
