$M cocaine bust may take TT cops to Canada

SENIOR officers of the Organised Crime and Narcotic Unit (OCNU) said that the investigations into the discovery of 60 kilogrammes of cocaine at the Piarco International Airport is going to be a very technical one and may eventually lead local officers to Canada.

OCNU sources said the 60 kilogrammes of cocaine, which police sources said has an estimated street value of $27 million was seized in a container packed with fish last Thursday. One kilogramme of cocaine has an estimated street value of $400,000, senior OCNU officials said. Police said the million dollar cocaine seizure was found in cargo to be transported on an Air Transat flight bound for Canada. OCNU sources also said the investigation is no “cut and dry” probe and could take at least six months. Senior officers said the probe will be similar to a Fraud Squad investigation where several statements will be taken. “It can be very tedious,” one senior officer said.

Clarence Holmer, General Manager of the General Aviation Services (GAS), ground handlers for Air Transat could not be reached for comment yesterday. A woman who answered his direct line insisted he was tied up with meetings and could not leave to answer any telephone calls. OCNU’s line officer, Deputy Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul said that the 60-kilogramme cocaine haul that came into the country does not mean that the police are not doing anything to prevent drug interdiction. Paul said the interest of the police is to eradicate drugs and that they will do their utmost to reduce the import and export of drugs to and from the country.

Thursday’s large cocaine haul at the Piarco International Airport is one of two now engaging the attention of OCNU officers, police said. On Friday, OCNU sources said, another 1.02 kilogrammes of cocaine was found in a statue of the late calypsonian, the Lord Kitchener, at the Tunapuna arm of the Fedex Express, commonly called Fed Ex. Police sources said that cocaine, too, was bound for an international country, but declined to say which one. Fed Ex officials confirmed the seizure but also refused to comment further, saying they first needed to get in touch with their head office in Miami.  No arrests have been made in either of the cocaine seizures.