Police have made a multi-million dollar drug bust in Tobago.
The illegal narcotics confiscated during a law enforcement operation are estimated to be worth a staggering $42.2 million.
Details of this major breakthrough were shared at a Media Conference held at the Scarborough Police Station where the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, Tobago Division outlined the extent of the operation.
Officers stated that around 7:30pm on Monday December 2nd, police officers of the Tobago Division Task Force, directed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Oswain Subero and Senior Superintendent Earl Elie, conducted an intelligence anti-crime operation at Pigeon Point. This is where the $42.2 million drug bust was made.
Senior Superintendent Elie said the seizure can be dubbed one of the largest narcotics hauls in Tobago.
“A total of 238 kilogrammes of marijuana and 13 kilogrammes of cocaine along with three firearms which consist of one Beretta machine pistol and two Glock pistols along with a quantity of ammunition. Also, in this operation, two male persons were arrested.”
The men arrested include a 30 year old of Buccoo and a 48 year old of Marabella. A pirogue was also intercepted.
“Intelligence suggests to us that this shipment was not destined for Tobago. As a matter of fact, the destination would have been, should have been another Caribbean island in which those two gentlemen, based on the intelligence, would have previously, as a matter of fact, recently been released after serving three years imprisonment for similar offences.”
As Tobago continues to grapple with a rise in criminal activity, the Trinidad and Tobago Police’s Tobago Division plans to develop a holistic approach so that similar operations can be successfully executed.
“Starting with the community policing of it to the hardcore part of it, basically focus on aspects of crime prevention, intervention, and crime suppression so a combination of those factors along with those persons who assist us because we cannot do this alone.”
The Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force and the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard assisted in the exercise.