TRINIDAD: For the second time in a week, the Coast Guard have assisted police in catching drug traffickers, this time seizing close to $5 million in marijuana and cocaine in the Gulf of Paria.
Two suspects from Carenage were handed over to the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB), along with the drugs and two illegal pistols.
According to a media release, Coast Guard Interceptor 033 was patrolling the waters off Chaguaramas when around 1.15 pm they were approaching a pirogue with two occupants, which suddenly sped off in another direction.
The pirogue was intercepted after a short chase and escorted to Coast Guard headquarters, Staubles Bay, Chaguaramas. Two large, blue plastic containers were found. In them were 41 packets of marijuana weighing 21.92 kilogrammes, with an estimated street value of $2,183,582.72 and two packets of cocaine weighing 2.26 kilogrammes, with an estimated street value of $2,787,840. Two Glock 9mm pistols were also retrieved from the containers.
Lt Comdr Kirk Jean-Baptiste said the pirogue had no fish and it appeared the men’s mission was to traffic drugs into the country. The bust comes after the Coast Guard held four men following a gun deal in Toco on December 3.
A report stated that Coast Guard and police were on a joint patrol in Toco when around 1.15 am, they noticed two men in a blue Honda CRV drive to the waterfront to meet two other men in a vessel as it approached the shore.
Police said they observed all four occupants making a transaction and as the officers approached, the men darted into the vehicle and sped off. The officers fired warning shots and when the men failed to stop, the vehicle’s tyres were shot out.
The men got out and ran but the officers pursued and arrested three of them. A pistol and two magazines loaded with several rounds of ammunition were recovered. Jean-Baptiste said the routine operations were part of the Coast Guard’s vigilance in its crime-fighting efforts.
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