APTN National News
A New Brunswick RCMP officer facing charges of cocaine trafficking is listed as the co-owner of a charter airline company in Newfoundland and Labrador, records show.
RCMP Const. Albert Michelin remains in custody after he was charged Monday with one count of trafficking cocaine and two counts of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. He was arrested Friday.
Michelin had been stationed on the Tobique First Nation since 2010. He was posted in Labrador for about 18 years before his transfer to the Maliseet community.
Michelin is scheduled to appear in Moncton provincial court for a bail hearing on Wednesday. He had been suspended from duty with pay since 2012 as a result of “unrelated code of conduct investigations,” said the New Brunswick RCMP in a statement.
Sgt. Alain LeBlanc, with the RCMP in Nova Scotia which is handling media calls on the issue, said he could not comment on whether the cocaine trafficking charges stem from Michelin’s activities on the First Nation reserve.
The RCMP’s federal operations unit in Nova Scotia led the investigation which began in 2013.
Michelin is listed as one of two directors for Big Land Aviation which is based out of Happy Valley Goose Bay, Labrador, according to records with the provincial corporate directory.
A woman who answered the phone at the company’s listed headquarters said she couldn’t comment on whether Michelin is still a director.
Big Land Aviation had one of its planes seized in March as part of a provincial investigation into illegal caribou hunting. The plane was transporting caribou meat for the Innu who defy the hunting ban for cultural reasons.
A spokesperson for the province’s Department of Justice said the investigation is still ongoing, but the plane had been returned.
“A warrant was executed, evidence was gathered and the plane was released,” said Luke Joyce.
