ELIZ­A­BETH GON­ZA­LES

GML Cor­re­spon­dent

A 72-year-old pen­sion­er is among three fam­i­ly mem­bers ar­rest­ed dur­ing a State of Emer­gency raid in Low­lands, To­ba­go.

Guardian Me­dia un­der­stands the po­lice op­er­a­tion—which took place be­tween 9 and 11 am yes­ter­day morn­ing—un­cov­ered il­le­gal drugs, cash, and mar­i­jua­na plants at a home on Lee­son George Dri­ve. Of­fi­cers found 330 grammes of cannabis, 19 cannabis plants, as well as TT$14,874 and US$80 in cash dur­ing the raid.

The To­ba­go Di­vi­sion­al Task Force West and the Ca­nine Unit car­ried out the op­er­a­tion af­ter weeks of sur­veil­lance.

Sources told Guardian Me­dia that po­lice of­fi­cers were able to close in on the fam­i­ly with the help of pow­ers grant­ed by the de­c­la­ra­tion of the State of Emer­gency.

Those ar­rest­ed in­clude a self-em­ployed man, a house­wife, and a pen­sion­er, all from the same house­hold.

ACP Os­wain Subero led the op­er­a­tion, with co­or­di­na­tion by Snr Supt Earl Elie and sev­er­al of­fi­cers. In­ves­ti­ga­tions are on­go­ing.

Yes­ter­day, Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Er­la Hare­wood-Christo­pher said that SoE op­er­a­tions have led to the ar­rest of 49 peo­ple.

The SoE was de­clared on De­cem­ber 30, 2024.