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Trial for woman facing drug trafficking charges begins

The jury trial of a Yellowknife woman, one of nine people arrested in a sweeping 2016 drug trafficking probe, began in NWT Supreme Court Tuesday morning.

Serenus Bryan, 51, faces two counts of trafficking a controlled substance.

She was arrested in September 2016 as part of Project Green Manalishi - a far-reaching RCMP G Division-led investigation into high-level drug trafficking in Yellowknife and the territory.

In February 2016, RCMP began intercepting the private phone calls and text messages of suspects identified in the investigation.

In a Yellowknife courtroom on Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Duane Praught addressed the 12-member jury.

“First and foremost, this case is about drugs - specifically cocaine and fentanyl. It’s about whether (Bryan) gave, sold, sent … whether or not she trafficked those drugs,” said Praught.

Praught said the Crown will draw it’s evidence from the testimony of three RCMP officers, three intercepted text messages and 22 intercepted phone calls.

The 22 wiretapped calls, played aloud in court to jurors, were recorded by RCMP between late February and late March 2016. Through an agreed statement of facts, the Crown established that on many of the intercepted calls, both Todd Dube and Michael Lapierre  - arrested in Green Manalishi - can be heard speaking.

After being convicted of conspiring to traffic fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs, Dube was sentenced to nine years in prison for his part as leader in a sophisticated and lucrative drug network in Yellowknife.

All of the intercepted phone calls featured a “female voice,” - an unnamed woman heard speaking with both Dube and Lapierre on multiple occasions.

An RCMP officer, who Yellowknifer isn’t naming due to his ongoing undercover work, took the stand Tuesday.

As an officer who was on-board Project Green Manalishi since “day-one,” the witness testified he became familiar with the “very distinctive” "raspy" voice, which he said carried a hint of an accent, by listening to intercepted communications.

Asked who he believed the voice belonged to, the witnessed stretched his hand, pointing to Bryan in the courtroom.

The witness told the court he believed it was her voice on each of the 22 intercepted phone calls.

Many of the calls heard in court began with the woman, identified by the officer as Bryan, calling Lapierre “buddy.”

But other calls made by the witness-identified voice to Dube often involved money - and money owed.

After answering a call from the woman on March 9, Dube can be heard asking, “how much do you have for me? … please don't tell me it's only a couple hundred ... I’m going to come see you.”

In some of the intercepts, the two were heard having heated disagreements.

In cross-examining the officer, who interviewed the accused one day after her arrest, Bryan’s lawyer Steve Smith questioned the Crown witness about his interviewing techniques.

Smith asked whether or not the witness used a line of questioning intended to mislead his client or to “get something to use against,” her.

“No,” the witness replied.

Under cross-examiner, the officer told the court Bryan was not an initial suspect in Project Green Manalishi.

The Crown is expected to call to more witnesses - an RCMP officer and a drug trafficking expert - when the trial resumes Wednesday morning.