Derek Achong

In the con­tin­u­ing dri­ve to erad­i­cate the drug trade in cen­tral Trinidad, po­lice yes­ter­day seized more than $400,000 worth of mar­i­jua­na and de­tained three peo­ple. In the ex­er­cise, which be­gan at 4 am and con­tin­ued for over sev­en hours, a 42-year-old man was ar­rest­ed at his Mar­shall Trace, Cunu­pia, home af­ter a search which in­volved the Ca­nine Unit. The same team of of­fi­cers led by In­spec­tor Wayne Lawrence of the Ch­agua­nas CID, went to an area near the Ca­roni Riv­er, Kel­ly Vil­lage, where they dis­cov­ered two ki­los of high-grade mar­i­jua­na con­cealed in near­by bush­es. A 30-year-old goat farmer of Princess Av­enue, McBean, Cou­va, was al­so ar­rest­ed af­ter of­fi­cers found a quan­ti­ty of mar­i­jua­na hid­den in a goat pen on the com­pound.

Po­lice be­lieve they have made a ma­jor dent in mar­i­jua­na cul­ti­va­tion in the San Raphael area hav­ing dis­cov­ered a camp in Mun­do Nue­vo. A group of of­fi­cers who were pur­su­ing a res­i­dent of Mamoral Trace near his home, made the find af­ter the sus­pect evad­ed cap­ture through the near­by forest­ed area. Po­lice said dur­ing a thor­ough search of the area, they came up­on the im­pro­vised camp. Po­lice said they found ap­pa­ra­tus used in cur­ing mar­i­jua­na and ar­rest­ed a 51-year-old man who was on sen­try du­ty. The ex­er­cise in­clud­ed Sgts Fi­garo and Joseph, of­fi­cers of the Ch­agua­nas CID and Cen­tral Di­vi­sion Task Force. Po­lice said ex­er­cis­es such as those con­duct­ed yes­ter­day will con­tin­ue over the next few weeks.