$18M cocaine bust at sea

Sources said that at about 3.30 am, a Coast Guard interceptor was conducting routine patrol when they spotted a 24-foot pirogue with three occupants on board.

Coast Guard officers ordered them to cut their engines and prepare to be boarded. Instead, the pirogue sailed off at high speed.

A chase ensued with the interceptor forcing the pirogue to come to a halt. It was escorted to Staubles Bay. During a search, Coast Guard officers searched the pirogue and found 36 packets of cocaine, weighing in total about 40 kilos.

The three were handed over to officers of the Organised Crime Narcotics and Firearms Bureau.

Police believe the cocaine originated from Colombia via Venezuela.

This is the fifth drug haul by the Coast Guard. Sources said the estimated street value of narcotics seized in these five interdictions is about $850,000,000.

the three bodies comes at a time when the two vessels on the sea bridge have been prone to breaking down and also do not have proper cold storage facilities for food items far less human bodies.

“What is the logistics of bringing these bodies to Trinidad? This is ludicrous! This is total dementia to bring three bodies on the ferry. They would have to bring crime scene people and officers will be required to transfer the bodies. As far as I see it, this is absolute and total stupidity.

“I am also fearing a contamination of evidence. It is international standard that bodies being carried from one place to another should be put in sealed metal coffins and should not be among the public. I have been in the country for over ten years and I am shocked from time to time by the level of incompetence,” he said.

Calls to National Security Minister Edmund Dillon’s cellphone yesterday went unanswer