Vol. 11, No. 31 Wednesday, August 5, 1981 20 Pages Two arrested iinR]CMP drug raids By MICHAEL KNELL Free Press Staff A three-month long undercover operation has led to the arrest of 21 people in the Oshawa-Whitby area on 53 varlous drug related charges. Last Friday morning, a 16-man force comprised of members of the Durham Regional Police Force and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police conducted' numnerous searches that resulted in the seizure of quantities of drugs including marijuana, hashish, MDA and LSD. According to Sgt. Terry Crawford, head of the RCMP's Oshawa detachment, the raids were the "successful completion of a three-month under- cover opera tion." Crawford declined.to specify the quantities of drugs seized. Included in the arrests were two Whitby people. Stephen Earl Sarginson, 23, of 905 Crocus Crescent, was charged with two counts of traf- ficking and one count of possession under the Nar- cotics Control Act. Joseph Roger Babineau, 22, of Whitby was charged with two counts of trafficking under the Narcotics Control Act and one count of trafficking under the Food and Drug Act. Both are scheduled to appear in Oshawa provin- cial court, tomorrow (August 6). As of press time, Crawford said that there were warrants outstanding for two people, one of whom is a juvenile. Crawford added that while the people charged may have known each other, they were conducting their activities individually, not as a group. The undercover operation was carried out by an RCMP constable who purchased drugs from various persons, Crawford said. "6He infiltrated the drug traffickers using a suitable guise." The police officer added that this series of arrests does, not mean that drug trafficking is, becomning a bigger problem in this area. 'II don't notice any sudden surge (in drug-related activites)," Crawford said. 'II believe our drug problem is the same as any community of similar While he described it as "quite a successful opera- tion," it was "not the biggest we ever had." The joint forces teamn conducting the arrests was led by Cpl. Stuart Jarvis of the RCMP and by Con- stable Peter Naumieko of the Durham force.