A 32-year-old Cal­i­for­nia man was ar­rest­ed on Mon­day dur­ing an an­ti-crime ex­er­cise con­duct­ed by of­fi­cers at­tached to the South­ern Di­vi­sion.

Ac­cord­ing to a me­dia re­lease from the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice, the in­tel­li­gence-led op­er­a­tion took place be­tween 1 pm and 8 pm on Mon­day and tar­get­ed sev­er­al known drug hotspots across the South­ern Di­vi­sion.

Po­lice said the ex­er­cise fo­cused on ar­eas in La Ro­maine, Mara­bel­la, Clax­ton Bay and San Fer­nan­do.

Dur­ing the op­er­a­tion, of­fi­cers ar­rest­ed the 32-year-old sus­pect of Sev­enth Street, Cal­i­for­nia, for the al­leged of­fence of pos­ses­sion of co­caine for the pur­pose of traf­fick­ing.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors said 68 grammes of co­caine were al­leged­ly found in the man’s pos­ses­sion dur­ing the ex­er­cise.

Po­lice al­so car­ried out a se­ries of search­es and road checks in sev­er­al com­mu­ni­ties through­out the di­vi­sion.

Ar­eas searched in­clud­ed Ethel Street, Pem­ber­ton Street, Turn­ing Point, Pond Street, Bayshore, the Train Line and Sixth Street in Mara­bel­la.

Of­fi­cers al­so con­duct­ed ex­er­cis­es along High Street and Lord Street in Clax­ton Bay, as well as the Clax­ton Bay Fish­ing De­pot, Clax­ton Bay Man­grove and Kings Wharf in San Fer­nan­do.

The an­ti-crime op­er­a­tion was co­or­di­nat­ed by se­nior of­fi­cers of the South­ern Di­vi­sion.

Po­lice said the ex­er­cise was com­plet­ed with­out in­ci­dent.

The South­ern Di­vi­sion has con­tin­ued in­tel­li­gence-led op­er­a­tions in re­cent months as of­fi­cers tar­get il­le­gal drugs, firearms and oth­er crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ty in com­mu­ni­ties across south Trinidad.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors have not yet re­leased the iden­ti­ty of the ar­rest­ed man, and en­quiries are con­tin­u­ing in­to the mat­ter.

The sus­pect is ex­pect­ed to be processed in con­nec­tion with the al­leged co­caine traf­fick­ing of­fence as in­ves­ti­ga­tions con­tin­ue.