Three drug smugglers will appear in court this morning following the seizure of almost $100,000 in marijuana by the T&T Coast Guard yesterday.
In a press release yesterday, Coast Guard public relations officer Lieutenant Sherron Manswell said the suspects, two men and a woman, were detained by a team of officers three miles off the coast of Chacachacare Island. According to Manswell, the officers were on patrol around 1.17 am when they stopped a pirogue named “Kelsea” after its occupants started behaving suspiciously upon seeing them.
The officers found a parcel of marijuana wrapped in plastic aboard the vessel and recovered a crocus bag containing 24 similar parcels, which was found floating near to the boat. Investigators believe the smugglers dumped their drugs overboard upon seeing the Coast Guard interceptor patrol boat.
The suspects were arrested and the boat was towed to the Coast Guard’s Staubles Bay base.
The suspects were later handed over to detectives from the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB). The drugs weighed a total of 7.2 kilos and has an estimated street value of $93,600.