Following the arrest of four Chinese nationals at a house in the upscale gated community of Millennium Park, Trincity, last Wednesday and the confiscation of more than $8 million worth of drugs along with a quantity of local and foreign currency, senior officials within the T&T Police Service (TTPS) says that the set-up is “not the work of low-level street criminals.”
Acting on information, Northern Division officers led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Deosaran of the Central Intelligence Bureau executed a search warrant for firearms and ammunition at the house at Olympia Avenue.
During the exercise, officers found and seized 201 glass vials each labelled Ketamine ten per cent INJ 23ml for Veterinary Use Only.
In addition, 76 zip-lock packets each containing a white crystal-like substance resembling the dangerous drug Ketamine were also seized.
Jaicheng Jiang held by police during the search.
TTPS
They also found and seized $33,775 TT in polymer notes; $865 Yen; and $53 TT in cotton notes along with a quantity of apparatus.
Jaicheng Jiang, 26, was arrested and subsequently charged by PC Gerald of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) with possession of Ketamine for the purpose of trafficking.
The Ketamine weighed 12.7 kilograms and had a street value of $8,623,300 TT.
Ketamine is a medication primarily used for induction and maintenance of anaesthesia. It induces dissociative anaesthesia and can lead to a trance-like state providing pain relief, sedation, and amnesia.
Three other Chinese nationals, two men aged 38 and 29, and a 27-year-old woman who were found at the premises were also arrested.
Ketamine found in Trincity.
TTPS
Police revealed that they were in the country illegally and the Immigration Division is conducting inquiries.
Two days after the arrest, an Arima magistrate granted a detention order for the quantity of cash seized at the premises, pending further investigations under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Commenting on the arrest, acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob said on Saturday that “street bandits” are hired to do the nasty work locally for high-paying organisations.
And in a bid to continue its work to dismantle operations from the top and reduce the number of gang-related killings which are interconnected, Jacob said, “We are concentrating more now on the top because we want to cut the money train to fuel gangs and get illegal guns off the streets in T&T.”