Cocaine and marijuana seizures by police have more than doubled over the past year. In a press release issued yesterday, the T&T Police Service (TTPS) Public Affairs Unit stated that drug seizures surpassed the total seizures for the whole of last year through intensive anti-crime exercises held between January and July 2015.
There has been a 131 per cent increase in cocaine seizures with 193 kilogrammes being recovered as compared to 83 kilogrammes recorded for the same period last year. Marijuana seizures increased more significantly than did cocaine as anti-drug operations netted 1,239 kilogrammes as compared to 471 kilogrammes seized last year—an 163 per cent increase.
“For the entire 2014, 148 kilos of cocaine were seized with a street value of $5.3 million and 1,185 kilos of marijuana with a value of $13 million,” the release said.
In addition to increased drug seizures the unit also noted that the TTPS was intensifying its marijuana eradication exercises with 25 fields around T&T being raided and destroyed for the year so far as compared to the 20 that were targeted for the whole of last year. Of all nine policing divisions acrosss T&T, the Northern Division, in which the Piarco International Airport is located, led the way with cocaine seizures accounting for 61 kilogrammes of the overall total.
It was followed by the South Western and Tobago Divisions where police seized 47 kilogrammes and 26 kilogrammes, respectively. In terms of marijuana seizures, the Western Division led with 282 kilogrammes removed from the hands of drug dealers, followed by the South Western Division at 268 kilogrammes and the Southern Division with 236 kilogrammes.
“The vision of the TTPS is to ensure that every place in T&T is safe and this will be achieved through various policing strategies that include but [are] not limited to an increase in police visibility on the roads and in communities, greater response times to reports of crimes being committed, the removal of illegal guns from off the streets and through the targeting of drug dealers,” the release said.