THE US Embassy said its involvement in the investigation that led to the arrest of three people for trafficking over $200 million worth of cocaine, is a sign of it delivering to the people.
Police in a media release last Saturday said after searching a black Suzuki SUV, five large black garbage bags containing 148 packages of cocaine, weighing 168kgs were allegedly found in the trunk. A gun was allegedly found on the floor of the driver’s side.
In a media release on Tuesday the US embassy said personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) assisted the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) and the Transnational Organized Crime Unit (TOCU) in the $234 million drug find.
The multi-million dollar drug bust is one of the largest in the country’s history. In May 2008 six men; two Trinidadians: Victor Sylvester and Shaheed Ali and four Venezuelans: Alonzo Valera, Cesar Pereira, Freddie Garcia, and Darwin Gonzales were sentenced to life in prison for the $700 million Monos Island drug bust.
The men were held after police raided a house at Passy Bay, Monos Island, around 3 am on August 23, 2005. The officers seized 1,749 kilogrammes of cocaine, two rifles, three pistols, one revolver, a sub-machine gun and a large cache of ammunition.
Sylvester, a water taxi operator, was arrested aboard his boat near the island, while Ali was found walking on a beach. The four foreign nationals were arrested in the house.
In a media release last Saturday, police said three people were held after police received information in March about a large shipment of cocaine destined for the United States.
A US Embassy spokesperson said the drugs originated from Colombia. The SUV was stopped in the car park of a Chaguaramas hotel after several days of it and the occupants being kept under surveillance by local and international authorities.
Saturday’s police release quoted Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher who said the local police worked closely with both regional and international partners resulting in the arrest and now charges of one of the three people held.
She said it was the largest land seizure of cocaine ever, with an estimated street value of $234,457,344, and vowed to continue partnering with the country’s law enforcement counterparts in the US “to wage a forceful and relentless war on the regional drug trafficking networks and those who profit from the illegal drug trade.”
US Ambassador Candace Bond in Tuesday’s release said: “The United States is Trinidad and Tobago’s best and most reliable partner in the world, and this seizure and solid arrest are tangible evidence that the U.S. Embassy is delivering for the people of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as for the people of the United States.
“I am proud of the six law enforcement agencies resident at the US Embassy, and the great work they perform at great risk to support Trinbagonian criminal investigations. We are partners in helping make Trinidad and Tobago safer for all of us
