SWIFT CURRENT – A routine traffic stop on Highway 1 near Swift Current led to a significant drug and contraband tobacco bust earlier this month, Saskatchewan RCMP said in a media release Monday.
On July 15, at approximately 1 p.m., officers with the Saskatchewan RCMP’s Roving Traffic Unit pulled over a vehicle during proactive patrols. A search uncovered a haul of illegal substances, including 500,000 illicit cigarettes, approximately 5 kilograms of illicit cannabis, and approximately 292 grams of cocaine inside the vehicle.
The driver, identified as 63-year-old Colette Ripper of Calgary, Alta., was arrested at the scene. Police say she was travelling from Alberta to Saskatchewan at the time of the interception.
She is charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, sell, offer for sale, transport, deliver, distribute, or have in her possession for the purpose of sale a tobacco product, or a raw leaf tobacco that is unstamped, and possession for the purpose of distributing.
Ripper is scheduled to appear in Swift Current Provincial Court on Sept. 17.
