Search warrant documents detail drug charges against Inuvik businessman

An Inuvik businessman says drug and bootlegging charges against him are the result of a misunderstanding, but the RCMP thought they had a clear picture of what was going on.

Talal Khatib, 64, was charged after police searched his Raven Street home on May 2. Details of the investigation are contained in search warrant documents. This information — used to obtain search warrants — is sworn by police officers, but has not been tested in court.

According to the RCMP, on April 17 a police officer approached Khatib's house after seeing a young man walk to the back window. The officer tried to quietly get close to the back window, but said the youth heard his footfalls on the brittle ice and snow.

The police officer said he heard Khatib tell the youth he didn't have any smokes. But when the police officer spoke to the young man, he admitted he had gone there to buy salvia, a psychoactive drug that is illegal in Canada.

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Police say the next day an officer on patrol saw another man approach the back window of the same house. The officer said the man saw his marked police cruiser, and would not say why he was going to the house.

According to the RCMP, on May 1 police searched a woman after seeing her make an exchange at the same back window. They found she had a mickey of vodka and a rolled marijuana cigarette. She told police she had bought the bottle for $40 and paid $10 for the marijuana.

She told police it was the first time she had bought directly from Khatib but had had others purchase booze from him in the past.

On May 2, an officer in the Inuvik detachment saw Khatib drive by the detachment in the direction of the liquor store. According to police, the officer jumped in his personal vehicle, drove to the liquor store and saw Khatib leave with two big reusable shopping bags filled with large bottles of alcohol. The officer said Khatib then went back into the store and bought a case of mickey bottles of vodka.

'Everything will be clarified'

Police say when they searched Khatib's home they found more than 100 grams of marijuana, 25 mickeys of vodka, 11 1.75 litre bottles of vodka, 200 grams of salvia, and $2,780 in cash, as well as drug paraphernalia.

Khatib, a local landlord and restaurateur, refused to be interviewed, but said the charges are the result of "a misunderstanding."

"I'm pretty sure everything will be clarified," he said.

Khatib is scheduled to enter pleas to the charges later this month. He said he will plead not guilty.

Khatib has had his share of controversy in Inuvik — he was charged with bootlegging in 2004 and drug trafficking in 2008. Both times, the charges were either stayed or withdrawn.