POLICE had a busy few days arresting 17 people and destroying more than 4,000 marijuana trees after they seized $19 million in cocaine.
The arrests began on November 7 after officers received information on two cars said to be transporting drugs.
They assembled a team and intercepted both cars on the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway near Grand Bazaar.
They searched the cars, a Toyota Corolla and Nissan Bluebird Sylphy, and found a black plastic bag in the trunk of the Corolla.
The bag contained 12 packets of cocaine hydrochloride, a drug which is also used as a local anaesthetic in some medical procedures.
The drugs, weighing 13.8 kg, have an estimated street value of $19,236,096.
Police arrested the driver of the Corolla, a prison officer who is currently on suspension.
They also held a 19-year-old man and 35-year-old man, both from Fyzabad, in connection with the find.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin told Newsday last weekend’s arrests were part of the police’s plan to “end this year strongly” and take the fight to the criminals by implementing specific anti-crime strategies.
He commended officers for “going beyond the call” to ensure the strategies were successful and said the public could expect more from the police, adding, “This is only the beginning.
“We recognise that the society is demanding more of us and we have to rise up and really give back to society so that they can have faith in the work that the police is doing.
“So we really have to keep on pushing, and we expect to see even more results as we continue the fight and understand that it’s about intelligence-led, evidence-based solutions to crime that will get us there.”
On November 8, police destroyed approximately 4,000 marijuana trees they found while chasing three suspected teenage bandits in Aripo.
At around 7.30am, police responded to a report of robbery in progress at Smithfield Lands. They arrived to see three people leaving the home.
On seeing the police, the bandits shot at them before running off as the police shot back.
Police cordoned off the area and found and arrested one man while officers followed the others into a nearby forested area.
Police on a joint operation in the area joined in and found a marijuana field with approximately 4,000 fully-grown marijuana plants with an estimated value of $2,400,000.
They destroyed the plants, but no one was arrested in connection with the find.
Police later found the other suspects, two teenage brothers from Valencia.
Police in Diego Martin found and destroyed marijuana 100 trees during an exercise on November 9.
Officers acting on information hiked almost three miles into a forested area off Good Session Drive, Patna Village, Diego Martin.
They found a black bulletproof vest hidden under a heap of dry leaves.
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