Diego Martin man held as officers seize over $20M in illegal drugs

A Diego Martin man was arrested on Thursday night after, officers raided a business property and his home and confiscated over $20 million worth of narcotics, including marijuana and cocaine.

Police said the operation, which was conducted between 6 pm and 11.30 pm, involved officers from the Northern Division Task Force, Area South, as well as personnel from a specialist unit of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, who swooped down on the locations at La Horquette Road, Glencoe, and Roxborough Street, Diego Martin.

The exercise was coordinated by W/Snr Supt Maynard-Wilson, Supt Etienne, ASP Pitt and ASP Jones, and spearheaded by Insp Gadar and Sgt Persad.

Onlookers yesterday reported seeing officers carrying several packages out of the building in Glencoe, which allegedly belongs to the 39-year-old man.

While the building remained locked yesterday, the sign listed it as an executive car care business.

Acting on information, officers conducted a thorough search of the Glencoe business place and found several packages of marijuana and cocaine in a locked room.

Several more such packages were found at the suspect’s home.

Among the discoveries were five packets of pure cocaine with a combined weight of 5.62 kilogrammes and an estimated street value of $7,833,830.40; and a total of 157 packets of Colombian ‘Creepy’ cannabis with a combined weight of 118.58 kilogrammes and an estimated street value of $13,013,799.26.

People operating businesses close by in Glencoe yesterday said the location was never really operational and that numerous commercial ventures during the past had never flourished.

As one man said, “Nothing ever seemed to survive in there.”

An elderly man chimed in, “Yuh always hadda mind yuh business…yuh does neva know what people doing!”

—Anna-Lisa Paul