Six­teen in­di­vid­u­als sus­pect­ed of en­ter­ing T&T il­le­gal­ly were de­tained on Tues­day dur­ing a co­or­di­nat­ed an­ti-crime ex­er­cise in the San­ta Flo­ra dis­trict.

The ex­er­cise, con­duct­ed be­tween 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., was based on in­tel­li­gence re­ceived by law en­force­ment of­fi­cers. Of­fi­cers pro­ceed­ed to the Beach Camp area along Beach Road, Pa­lo Seco, where they ob­served sev­er­al in­di­vid­u­als flee­ing to­ward the shore­line and oth­ers en­ter­ing near­by bush­land.

A search of the area led to the de­ten­tion of six­teen Span­ish-speak­ing in­di­vid­u­als, none of whom were able to present le­gal trav­el doc­u­ments.

The group in­clud­ed sev­en adult fe­males, aged 19, 19, 21, 23, 23, 32, and 45; three adult males aged 24, 26, and 27; and six mi­nors aged five months, sev­en months, two years (two in­di­vid­u­als), four years, and six years.

The in­di­vid­u­als were trans­port­ed to the San­ta Flo­ra and Erin Po­lice Sta­tions for fur­ther en­quiries and safe keep­ing.

The Im­mi­gra­tion Di­vi­sion and the Chil­dren’s Au­thor­i­ty were no­ti­fied and are con­tin­u­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tions in­to the mat­ter.

The op­er­a­tion was led by of­fi­cers of the South-West­ern Di­vi­sion and in­clud­ed col­lab­o­ra­tion with the An­ti-Gang Unit, South West­ern Di­vi­sion Task Force, K9 Unit, and of­fi­cers from the Point Fortin, Erin, and San­ta Flo­ra Po­lice Sta­tions.