A 41-year-old self-employed salesman was scheduled to appear before the Comptroller of Customs on Wednesday for allegedly having $500,000 worth of alcohol.

Central Division police arrested Kerry Ramphal during an anti-crime exercise, Operation Sea Breeze, between 12 am - 6 am on Wednesday.

[caption id="attachment_906948" align="alignnone" width="757"] Bottles of alcohol found in Freeport. Photos courtesy TTPS -[/caption]

Police said officers searched a compound at Lady Helena Gardens, Calcutta No.1 in Freeport, where they found over 300 boxes of alcohol.

They interviewed Ramphal, but he was unable to provide a satisfactory account about the alcohol. Officers from the Customs and Excise Division were called in.

All boxes were stamped and tagged for export. Customs and Excise officers told police the packages had already been shipped out of TT.

They also said the boxes could not have been shipped back to the country unless smuggled without proper duties being paid.

The salesman, police said, does not hold a license to sell alcohol.

Police held him for unlawfully having 272 boxes of one litre White Oak, 25 boxes Absolut Vodka, and four Black and White whiskey boxes.

[caption id="attachment_906949" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Boxes containing bottles of alcohol found in Freeport. - Photo courtesy TTPS[/caption]

Snr Supt Neil Brandon-John and ASP Simon co-ordinated the exercise, which Sgt Crawford supervised.

It also included members of the South Western Division Task Force and the Inter-Agency Task Force.