BWIA, PIARCO AIR SERVICES OFFICIALS CHARGED

TWO high-ranking members of the British West Indian Airways (BWIA) and the Piarco Air Services have been charged in connection with Wednesday’s multi-million dollar cocaine seizure at the Piarco Airport, police sources told Sunday Newsday yesterday. The two officials, one of whom holds a supervisory position were charged late Friday night with conspiracy to traffick 56 kilogrammes of cocaine which sources at the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit (OCNU) said carries a street value of $10,080,000. The charges were laid against the two officials after Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson instructed OCNU members to charge them. However, police sources said the investigations are not yet over. The two are to appear before an Arima Magistrate on Monday.

The 56 kilogrammes of cocaine was found in mail bags at the Piarco International Airport around 9 am Wednesday, and the Trinidad and Tobago Postal Corporation (TTPost) had sent out a release Friday saying that the drugs were intransit from the Netherlands, and bound for New York via Curacao. However, OCNU sources told Sunday Newsday yesterday that the cocaine was from Trinidad and was deliberately made to look as though it was legitimate transit cargo by placing tags on the mail bags. The cocaine was discovered during a random search by members of OCNU as well as the Customs Interdiction Unit. Some of the cocaine were in envelopes, while some were in parcels wrapped with tape. The whole lot was then placed in mailbags and at the time of the seizure was already packed on trolleys to be loaded on various planes destined for the United Kingdom and the United States. Police also believe that Canada was another intended destination. It is not known where in Trinidad the cocaine came from but OCNU sources said they do not believe it is linked to the million dollar cocaine find along the Mayaro and Manzanilla beaches late August.