The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

POLICE confiscated $105,000 worth of marijuana from a teenage boy in Eleuthera a day after they discovered $3.2 million worth of marijuana plants growing in a plot in Grand Bahama.

According to police reports, officers acting on intelligence went to Hatchet Bay Dock around 6pm on Sunday, where they saw a 17-year-old boy attempting to put a package on a mail boat.

Police retrieved the package and found an estimated 70lbs of marijuana worth $105,000. The juvenile was arrested and taken into custody.

Further investigations led to the arrest of  a 36-year-old woman and 44-year-old man. All three are expected to appear in court later this week to face drug-related charges.

A few hours earlier, police in Grand Bahama arrested two men, a Jamaican and a Bahamian, after Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) officers reportedly discovered a marijuana field with an estimated $3.2 million worth of marijuana plants.

The discovery took place around 5:20am on Saturday in East Grand Bahama.

This is the largest marijuana field to be unearthed this year and the third in Grand Bahama.

According to Superintendent Samuel Butler, officer-in-charge of the DEU, it has now become a “common trend” for Bahamians to team up with Jamaicans and grow marijuana rather than take the chance of trafficking it.

“There is an estimated 32,000 plants, each weighing a pound and more. They could have been growing for months. Bahamians are now growing them as opposed to buying them because they are afraid to get caught. But in terms of Grand Bahama, we have certainly increased surveillance and patrol in these remote areas and we are putting focus on that island,” Supt Butler said.

Two men, a 49-year-old Jamaican and a 30-year-old Bahamian, are assisting police with their investigations.

In April, some 75,000 marijuana plants, worth an estimated $7.5 million, were discovered growing in the pine forest of Grand Bahama. The plants ranged between one and five feet in height.

Officers also found three black garbage bags, containing freshly processed marijuana.

On March 24, more than 167,000 marijuana plants, with an estimated street value of nearly $16.8 million, were discovered by DEU and US law enforcement agents.

While on routine aerial patrols in the eastern area of Grand Bahama some 27 marijuana plots were detected.

Police also recovered two high-powered weapons, including an AK47 and a Mack 11. Several persons have been arrested and charged before the courts in connection with the matter.

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