Snaggs calls for audit on floating cocaine found

ACTING Commissioner of Police Everald Snaggs has taken a hard line on his officers on their investigations so far in the discovery of millions of dollars in high-grade cocaine between Manzanilla and Mayaro, and also the discovery of four bodies last week. As a consequence, Snaggs told Newsday he has ordered the Organised Crime and Narcotic Unit (OCNU) to do an audit into all the drugs that have surfaced so far. The instructions were given over the long Independence Day weekend during an emergency meeting which included members of the Homicide, OCNU, Eastern, South Western and Central Divisions.  Also present were Deputy Commissioners of Police Trevor Paul and Glen Roach, Assistant Commissioners of Police James Philbert and Oswyn Allard.

A senior OCNU official told Newsday yesterday that a special team of officers began the audit on Monday, and it is expected to be completed by the end of the week with suggestions that the unit ought to be informed as soon as anything of that nature occurs in the country. “OCNU was not aware of the incident until the Sunday night, hours after the drugs washed ashore,” the OCNU official said. Snaggs has also ordered the OCNU to do an international check as to the origin of the drugs. Sources said there were different markings on the drugs, suggesting that the parcels may have come from different countries.  Newsday was also reliably informed that there appears to be an Antiguan connection in the million dollar drug seizure.  A high-ranking Antiguan official contacted senior police  officers here regarding one of the four bodies, top-ranking police officers told Newsday. The body is believed to be that of Allan Tahir. Police sources told Newsday that an Antiguan is supposed to come to this country to positively identify the body, one of two that surfaced in East Trinidad.  There are alo reports are that two Grenadian nationals are missing.

During the emergency meeting, Snaggs also instructed members of the Eastern, South Western and Central Divisions to investigate the matter from a local angle. Over the past week several packages of high-grade cocaine have been surfacing or  seen floating in waters off East and South Trinidad coasts. Adding to the mystery is the discovery of four bodies, two in the East and two in the West, between last Monday and Saturday.  Senior police officers are of the opinion that the discoveries are connected. None of the bodies has been positively identified, but police sources said one of those found in Chaguaramas was identified through fingerprints as Christopher Francis Benjamin of Picton Road, Laventille, and Arima. Up to late evening his relatives had not come forward to physically identify him, Carenage Police said.