Three Edmonton men charged after man beaten, drugs seized in Inuvik

Mounties show off their haul after a drug bust in Inuvik (photo courtesy of RCMP)

Three men from Edmonton are charged after a man was beaten and a substantial amount of cocaine and marijuana was seized in Inuvik.

According to a news release from the Mounties, officers were called last Friday after an adult male was seriously assaulted.

The victim sought medical attention for his injuries and was released from hospital a short time later, RCMP stated.

Police identified three males in connection to the assault and located them at the Jak Park campground.

A search warrant was executed at the campground and the three suspects were arrested.

Police located approximately 330 grams of crack cocaine valued at $49,000.00, 220 grams of marijuana valued at $4,000, and a significant sum of Canadian currency.

31-year-old Justin Callioux is charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and assault causing bodily harm.

Joshua Houle, 35, is charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking cocaine and uttering threats against property.

Coltyn Petruniak, 29, is charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and assault causing bodily harm.

All three were being held for court in Yellowknife Wednesday.

Police state that no member of the public or police were injured during the execution of the search warrant and police are not seeking any other suspects in relation to this investigation.

Anyone with further information about this incident is asked to contact Inuvik RCMP at 867-777-1111 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, nwtnutips.com, (click on “submit a web tip”) or text: nwtnutips to 274637.

About the Author

John McFadden
John has been in the broadcast journalism industry since the 1980s. He has been a reporter in Yellowknife since 2012 and joined CKLB in January of 2018. John covers the crime and court beat as well as reporting on other areas including politics, business, entertainment and sports. He won seven national community newspaper awards while he was a journalist with Northern News Services Limited (NNSL). John worked in Ontario before coming North including stints as a TV sportscaster in Peterborough and senior news writer for CBC and CTV in downtown Toronto.