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A routine traffic violation stop turned into a drug bust for the Innisfail RCMP over the long weekend.

An officer, who was out on a bike patrol, pulled over a vehicle in town and after further observation of the vehicle and driver, the officer found a significant amount of a banned substance in the vehicle.

Police cannot comment on how much or what the substance was, but said the driver was charged with possession with the purpose of trafficking.

“There was enough quantity and by the way it was packaged, led us to believe it was meant for the purpose of trafficking,” said Cpl. Jeff Hildebrandt, of the Innisfail RCMP.

The long weekend was a busy one for Innisfail RCMP, who responded to a higher-than-average 73 incidents from July 31 until the end of the day on Aug. 2.

There were five collisions, three of them with animals; two 24-hour vehicle license suspensions; several non-serious assault files; and several stolen vehicle reports over the course of the weekend.

RCMP also investigated several alarms, mischief complaints and suspicious vehicles.

RCMP set up a check-stop and handed out over 20 tickets near Highway 54, across from the golf course, in the 50-kilometres-an-hour zone.

Despite the long weekend being notorious for rowdy campers, police said that they had no problems with August long vacationers.

“I spent some time at Gleniffer Lake patrolling campgrounds, but we didn’t have any calls from there all weekend,” said Hildebrandt.

The long weekend ended a month where there was an overall increase in crime in Innisfail and the surrounding area.

Close to 42 people were held in the jail in the Innisfail detachment in July. The monthly average is usually around 20 to 25 people a month, said Hildebrandt.

“It was mostly a seasonal increase. We had bad weather in June, so now people were coming out and getting into trouble with alcohol,” said Hildebrandt.

“We had a lot of warrants being executed, and a few impaired drivers, so the month ended with a bang on August long.”