A key player in a sophisticated Yellowknife-based drug trafficking network was sentenced to 30 months on Wednesday after evading authorities for more than two years. 

Twenty-four-year-old Luqman Hussein, who pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking, was one of over a dozen people arrested as part of Project Green Manalishi, a large-scale investigation into drug trafficking in the territory and its capital launched by in November 2015.

The probe targeted two high-level drug operations, controlled by a handful of people including Todd Dube and Norman Hache, both of whom received hefty prison sentences for their role in the enterprises.

Between February and April 2016, Hussein was one of four primary operators of a dial-a-dope phone, a line SA国际影视传媒� open for business 24 hours a day, seven days a week SA国际影视传媒� that connected drug users in the city to crack cocaine.

Hussein, supplied by upper-echelon drug traffickers in town, personally sold up to two ounces of crack cocaine per week, the court heard Wednesday.

He raked in thousands of dollars in weekly profits by divvying up each ounce SA国际影视传媒� bought or fronted to him for $2,300 SA国际影视传媒� into 50 to 55 SA国际影视传媒渟treet grams,SA国际影视传媒� selling 0.5 grams of crack for up to $100 a piece.

SA国际影视传媒淚t was more or less a full time job for Mr. Hussein,SA国际影视传媒� said prosecutor Duane Praught.

Praught said Hussein and his fellow dial-a-dope phone operators, SA国际影视传媒渨orked in shifts, working in tandem,SA国际影视传媒� like a well-oiled machine. The operation SA国际影视传媒渞an like a business,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

Praught, along with HusseinSA国际影视传媒檚 lawyer Peter Harte, submitted a joint-sentencing recommendation of 30 months custody minus time spent in remand.

NWT Supreme Court Justice Louise Charbonneau accepted the joint recommendation.

The plug was pulled on HusseinSA国际影视传媒檚 lucrative dial-a-dope operation in April 2016 when mounted a series of raids and arrests.

Hussein was released on a recognizance in July of that year. On Aug. 30, 2016, after he failed to appear in court or instruct a lawyer to do so on his behalf, a warrant was issued for his arrest. 

He was on the run for more than two years.

Then in December of last year, Hussein turned himself into Yellowknife , making it known immediately he wished to plead guilty to his lone trafficking charge.

Hussein is the last perpetrator to be sentenced as a result of Project Green Manalishi, marking an end the prosecution of those caught in the investigation, which has snaked through the courts for years.

Harte said his client could have chosen to remain a wanted man, but instead turned himself in and took responsibility for his crimes. 

Hussein turned to a life of crime after running into trouble in Ontario, where he was once an engineering student in Toronto, said Harte.

He figured his prospects were bleak and realized he could make a living on the street, which eventually led him to Yellowknife, he continued.

Harte said Hussein had a SA国际影视传媒減roblematicSA国际影视传媒� relationship with his father, whom he met for the first time when he was 12.

Hussein was conceived in a refugee camp in Kenya, the court heard.

The lucrative drug market in the North, said Justice Charbonneau, attracts would-be dealers out for SA国际影视传媒渆asy money,SA国际影视传媒� in the territory. In reality, she said, those who get caught pay a high price.

The presence of drugs in Northern communities, said Charbonneau, reciting an oft-repeated admonishment, causes SA国际影视传媒渋mmense harm,SA国际影视传媒� which trickles down to property crime, child neglect and even death SA国际影视传媒� accidental or otherwise.

Further involvement in the drug trade for Hussein, she warned, would likely lead to a SA国际影视传媒渧ery significantSA国际影视传媒� prison sentence.

Hussein was ordered to submit a sample of his DNA. HeSA国际影视传媒檚 also banned from possessing firearms for 10 years after his release.

With time spent in remand custody, Hussein has 21 months left to serve. 

Charbonneau said sheSA国际影视传媒檚 hopeful the message that drug trafficking in the North will lead significant sentences will get through to would-be traffickers eventually, despite the continued prevalence of migrating traffickers bent on making a buck North of 60.

While Wednesday marked the end of the CrownSA国际影视传媒檚 work following Project Green Manalishi, court proceedings for those charged in 2018SA国际影视传媒檚 Project Gloomiest - another probe into cocaine trafficking in Yellowknife - is just getting started.