THE LURE of making quick cash, after stumbling on a packages of cocaine which washed ashore on a beach, ended in terror for the family of one villager, who was kidnapped and murdered on August 21.
The drugs were washed up on Flemming Beach, in the rural village of Fishing Pond, near Sangre Grande. Police estimated the street value of the packages to worth millions of dollars.
And they, as well as elders in the village, are pleading with other young men who carted away an estimated 30 packages of cocaine to surrender them anonymously before more harm befalls the residents of the quiet, laid-back farming community.
Police said informants claimed packages of cocaine and sealed packages of US currency, amounting to millions of dollars, began washing ashore at Fishing Pond, North Manzanilla, Manzanilla, Mayaro and Guayaguayare from August 15, after a boat transporting an estimated three tonnes of drugs capsized in the Atlantic.
Head of the Eastern Division Snr Supt Ryan Khan said the police only retrieved any of the drugs on August 23, at Guayaguayare, where 36 packets, weighing 46 kilogrammes, were found near a BP facility which had an estimated street value of over $21m.
The drugs, underworld sources told police, were destined for a Claxton Bay narcotrafficker who recently set up a base at Mafeking Village, in Mayaro.
Mayaro villagers confirmed police had searched at least 20 houses after the narcotrafficker brought a group of men to Mayaro to recover the drugs and cash which went missing.
Police said a shooting incident on August 22, at Nurse Street in Guayaguayare, where a car with false plates was found, is linked to the group of men who were searching for the missing drugs. An extended magazine with 11 rounds of ammunition was found in that car.
The following day, police acting on a tip-off raided a house at North West Trace, Mafeking Village, where they claimed the occupants started shooting. One man, later identified as Kwasi Pegus was killed and several others escaped. Police claimed the men were among those hired to find the missing drugs but Pegus relatives said he was not involved in anything illegal.
National security sources say the fallout over the missing drugs could lead to more violence in the coastal villages spanning from Fishing Pond to Guayaguayare.
Fishing Pond villagers said on August 15, a group of young men found several packages of cocaine on the deserted beach, which can only be accessed by foot by a narrow, muddy forest trail. The young men shared the packages among themselves and hid them in undisclosed locations, villagers said.
Villager pays ultimate price
They said Stefan Juri, 31, of Flemming Road, the father of one, and brother of a police officer, was one of the men who took several packages.
Police said within days Juri sold two of the packages for TT$15,000 each and two others on consignment to drug dealers in Sangre Grande.
[caption id="attachment_1032328" align="aligncenter" width="233"] Stefan Juri -[/caption]
A national security source said the al
