3 held in connection with Moruga cocaine

EASTERN Division police were yesterday interrogating three suspects in connection with a quantity of cocaine which is believed to have washed ashore on the Moruga coastline on Monday. The suspects — an 18-year-old fisherman of Los Iros, a 17-year-old youth from La Union Road, Erin and a 25-year-old man of Allen Street, Palo Seco — were held by police shortly after three armed men broke into a Moruga fisherman’s house demanding their share of the cocaine. Police sources told Newsday yesterday that the men have since denied knowledge of the cocaine and have also denied that they had broken into the man’s house. However, fisherman Jerry Silverton, 31, who was one of 14 fishermen attacked by pirates on the high seas and left at a mangrove in neighbouring Venezuela, positively identified the three suspects as being the ones who stormed his home demanding the cocaine.

According to police reports, around 2.30 am yesterday Silverton and his common-law-wife, Carla Maharaj, were asleep at their l’Anse Mitan Road, Moruga home when three armed men forced their way into the house. They demanded that Silverton tell them where the cocaine was hidden. When Silverton repeatedly denied having the illicit drug, the intruders ran off. Shortly after, a report was made to the Moruga police and a party of policemen including Sgts Rodriguez and Maynard, Cpl Alpheus and Cpl Suphal, went in search of the three men and held them at a beach in Gran Chemin, Moruga. In the absence of any substantial evidence linking the suspects to the drugs, police sources said the three would most likely be charged with house breaking with intent to rob. Investigations are continuing. Residents of Moruga had reported to police that a large quantity of cocaine washed ashore at Gran Chemin beach around 3 pm on Monday. However, investigators combed the area on Tuesday and conducted several land/sea searches, but none of the cocaine has been found.