The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

POLICE confiscated $2 million worth of suspected cocaine in Inagua on Monday, the biggest drug find for the year and the largest in recent years, according to Samuel Butler, Officer in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Unit.

This is the second major cocaine find for the DEU – they also confiscated 49 kilos of suspected marijuana on Friday with a street value of $800,000.

The discovery resulted in the arrest of six Haitians. The men have since been charged before the courts.

In the most recent find, Supt Butler said a team of DEU officers, with officials from Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos, had conducted a search of “Poseidon”, a blue and yellow 75ft Haitian vessel in Mathew Town, Inagua, when they found the drugs.

Approximately 128 kilos of suspected cocaine with a street value of $2 million was confiscated, and five men, all Haitians, were arrested and taken into police custody.

Supt Butler said while drug trafficking is not a new trend, it seems that persons from the south are stockpiling the drugs in Haiti, hoping to ship it to Florida.

“We were made aware that other trafficking groups are building up the drugs in Haiti and so we are seeing more come around this time. We do not believe the drugs were bound for the Bahamas, we are just a transit route to Florida,” he said.

“We have been successful because of our collaboration with the public and our intelligence network that we are continually building  with our law enforcement partners in the region. We also have timely intelligence from OPBAT. We look forward to continued exchange with the public as well as continued collaboration with our international partners.”

Supt Butler said the men are expected to be charged before the courts, sometime this week. He also said the drugs will be turned over to the courts for evidence during the trial. They will then be destroyed.

Investigations continue.