The U.S. Em­bassy says its per­son­nel from the Drug En­force­ment Ad­min­is­tra­tion (DEA) and the U.S. De­part­ment of State’s Diplo­mat­ic Se­cu­ri­ty Ser­vice (DSS) as­sist­ed the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice Spe­cial In­ves­ti­ga­tions Unit (TTPS/SIU) and the Transna­tion­al Or­ga­nized Crime Unit (TOCU) in an in­ves­ti­ga­tion which cul­mi­nat­ed in a May 18 ar­rest of three Trin­bag­on­ian na­tion­als, and seizure of one Glock pis­tol and ap­prox­i­mate­ly 168 kilo­grams of co­caine, with a val­ue of over TT$234 mil­lion.

In a state­ment this morn­ing the Em­bassy said by vol­ume of the nar­cotics, this was the largest seizure of drugs dur­ing an on-land op­er­a­tion in Trin­bag­on­ian his­to­ry.

It said the U.S. Em­bassy’s DEA Of­fice per­son­nel and TOCU have been work­ing side by side for al­most 20 years.

Spe­cial In­ves­ti­ga­tions Unit Se­nior Su­per­in­ten­dent Christo­pher Pa­ponette said, “TOCU and SIU have been work­ing with the U.S. Em­bassy for many years. We are com­mit­ted to fight­ing transna­tion­al crim­i­nal or­ga­ni­za­tions, and this suc­cess­ful op­er­a­tion shows the strength of what we can achieve when we col­lab­o­rate with our great part­ners at the U.S. Em­bassy.”

U.S. Am­bas­sador Can­dace Bond said, “The Unit­ed States is Trinidad and To­ba­go’s best and most re­li­able part­ner in the world, and this seizure and sol­id ar­rest are tan­gi­ble ev­i­dence that the U.S. Em­bassy is de­liv­er­ing for the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go, as well as for the peo­ple of the Unit­ed States. I am proud of the six law en­force­ment agen­cies res­i­dent at the U.S. Em­bassy, and the great work they per­form at great risk to sup­port Trin­bag­on­ian crim­i­nal in­ves­ti­ga­tions. We are part­ners in help­ing make Trinidad and To­ba­go safer for all of us who live here.”