Yukon drug dealer pleads guilty at Whitehorse court hearing

A Yukon man, charged in a major drug bust two years ago in Whitehorse, pleadedguiltyin territorial court on Monday to trafficking marijuana and cocaine.

Jessie Ritchie was one of threemen arrested in November 2013 as part of a bust police calledone of the most significant organized crime investigations inYukon "Operation Monolith."

More than half a million dollars in drugs and money was seized, including a variety of automatic weapons.

In an agreed statement of facts, Ritchie admits controlling one of Whitehorse's two primary drug trafficking rings.

Evidence against him included a series of text messagesbetween Ritchie and a dealer-turned-policeinformant, revealing plans to ship large quantities of drugs and collect money.

Police also had photos of Ritchie retrieving $80,000 that had been buried in the bush off Grey Mountain Road.

Ritchie will be sentenced next spring.

Meanwhile, two other menarrested in B.C.as part of the same bustarechallenging the legality of the search warrants used by police at the time.

Asif Aslam and Matthew Truesdaleare scheduled to go to trial next spring. Their hearing,challenging the warrants, was adjourned Monday. Lawyers for the twoaccused say they will file formal application to have territorial Judge John Faulkner step down, citing bias.