A police exercise in central Trinidad on Tuesday evening resulted in the arrest of two persons including a Cunupia housewife and the seizure of more than $1.5 million in cocaine. During the exercise which began at 2.30 pm, the group of officers led by Inspector Wayne Lawrence intercepted a Nissan Tiida vehicle in the vicinity of Munroe Road, Cunupia in which three kilos of cocaine was discovered. Police said that on spotting the officers the lone occupant of the vehicle started to behave suspiciously and the vehicle was eventually stopped by police. A later search revealed the drugs weighing a total of three kilogrammes were in three plastic packets in the trunk of the car.
The 35-year-old driver, a cargo handler of Las Lomas was arrested by police and expected to appear before a Chaguanas magistrate later today on drug trafficking charges. Police are working on the theory that the man was using his position in the shipping industry to smuggle the illegal drugs from Trinidad to the United States and Europe. Meanwhile, a 32-year-old housewife of Cunupia was arrested at her home by the same group of officers during the exercise. The officers acting on a tip-off went to the house where they discovered almost one kilogramme of high-grade marijuana.
Police said the drugs were packaged in small plastic bags with a total street value of $15,000. Investigators believe that the woman was involved in the retail of the drugs and not large-scale trafficking. The exercise was headed by Senior Supt Edward Castillo and Superintendent Johnny Abraham and included Sgt Christopher Arun.