A 38-year-old Whitehorse man received a four-month jail sentence in territorial court Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

Chiu Lung Cheung has lived in the Yukon for about 20 years and is a former owner of The Great Wall, a Chinese restaurant that has since gone out of business.

Cheung was charged on July 12, 2007, after the RCMP discovered a canister containing approximately 6.8 grams of powder cocaine on the side of the Alaska Highway following a car chase involving Cheung.

The street value of the drug was identified as approximately $600.

Crown counsel Eric Marcoux said police received a reliable tip that Cheung was involved in drug dealing.

Police were able to locate Cheung in downtown Whitehorse, at which point Cheung fled in his vehicle.

Cheung accelerated and ignored the police, said Marcoux.

The chase continued along the Alaska Highway until police abandoned their pursuit, he said.

Officers then located Cheung's abandoned vehicle near the Valleyview subdivision, and a tracking dog discovered the man hiding in the woods nearby.

Police searched Cheung and the vehicle but did not find any drugs.

They did find a cell phone, on which the memory had been erased.

Police subsequently answered calls to the phone, said Marcoux.

The callers were asking for drugs.

The canister containing powder cocaine was located on the side of the road, said Marcoux.

A fingerprint matching Cheung's was found on the canister.

Marcoux and defence counsel Ed Horembala made a joint submission which Judge John Faulkner did not dispute.

In addition to the four-month jail sentence, Cheung will serve a consecutive two-month term on a charge of fleeing from police officers.

Marcoux identified the sentence as being on the "low end of the scale" and said Cheung's guilty plea is a strong mitigating factor.

"He saved the state a significant amount of money (by pleading guilty)," said Marcoux, who explained that had the case gone to trial, two key witnesses would have had to travel to Whitehorse at great expense.

Cheung's prior criminal record includes a conviction of the dangerous operation of a vehicle in 2006, for which he received a one-year driving prohibition and a $1,000-fine.

Cheung also received an 18-month driving prohibition and a 10-year firearms prohibition. He was ordered to pay a $100-victim surcharge.