The Tribune

By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

POLICE arrested nine persons over the weekend, including a Bahamian pilot and two men from Suriname, in connection with three major marijuana seizures in New Providence and Abaco.

The latest drug bust took place shortly after 8am on Sunday off Carmichael Road, where officers seized 633lbs of marijuana with a combined estimated street value of $640,000.

Officer-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU), Chief Superintendent Samuel Butler said acting on information, officers from the DEU with a warrant, went to a residence in the area of Boatswain Hill where they discovered a large quantity of drugs on the premises.

Three adult males, one Bahamian and two Surinamese, and a Bahamian woman were taken into custody as a result of the find.

“While we are still early in our investigations, we were able to seize a large amount of drugs concealed on the premises in this western community,” Chief Supt Samuel Butler said.

“The Drug Enforcement Unit remains committed to the cause of removing illegal drugs from our streets. We are cognisant of the relationship between drugs and the various serious crimes on our streets. We will continue to be as diligent as we can to remove drugs from the streets and apprehend drug traffickers.

“We are pleased with the progress that we have made so far and we will continue to progress with this investigation and will have several persons before the courts. This is not something that was random; we were deliberate in our efforts as was mandated to us by the commissioner of police in his police plan. We want to say to drug traffickers, the DEU is even more persistent and we will come after you wherever you are and we will get you.”

The second drug arrest took place on Saturday also in the Carmichael Road area.

According to police reports, shortly after 8.30am, mobile division officers, acting on intelligence carried out an operation at a home off Carmichael Road.

When officers arrived at the premises they discovered 58 marijuana plants. A man and a woman were arrested in relation to the seizure.

The final drug seizure occurred around 4pm on Friday in Marsh Harbour, Abaco.

Chief Supt Butler said DEU officers from New Providence along with their counterparts from the United States went to the Sir Leonard Thompson International Airport in Marsh Harbour where they searched a twin-engine aircraft with three males on board.

“Officers discovered a large amount of marijuana, three pounds to be exact, cash and two .380 pistols hidden in a microwave. One of the men was the pilot of the aircraft.”

Chief Supt Butler said the aircraft had just landed from Fort Lauderdale. He said the marijuana was “unique, really potent and grown in a lab,” because of this it has a street value of about $2,000 a pound.

The suspects were arrested and flown to the capital.

Chief Supt Butler said based on intelligence police are looking at the “connectivity” of the events and casting a “wider net” for other suspects.

Investigations into all the incidents continue.