Police investigating the murder of a 31-year-old man and the intimidation of residents in Guayaguayare and other eastern communities along the eaast coast of this country are linked to twenty-one million dollars worth of cocaine that has washed ashore. Investigating officers also suspect that the drugs were part of a larger quantity that was being moved through the waters off Trinidad.
The working theory is that the ship carrying the drugs may have overturned or been placed in a situation where the personnel on the vessel carrying it had no choice but to throw the packages overboard.
The drugs were washed up on Flemming Beach, in the rural village of Fishing Pond, near Sangre Grande, Fishing Pond, North Manzanilla, Manzanilla, Mayaro, and Guayaguayare from August 15, after a boat transporting an estimated three tonnes of drugs capsized in the Atlantic. Police have estimated the street value of the packages to be worth over twenty-one million TT dollars.
The TTPS patrols have increased along coastal communities, in a bid to reduce reports of criminal activities, as well as to search for any more packages that may wash ashore over the coming days. The TTPS is also encouraging citizens in the respective areas to work with the police and to notify them the minute they see anything strange. Officers said: “We won’t even advise citizens going near any strange bags that they would see wash up on the beach. Because the same way that you would have seen it, there could be persons in the area who would see you interact with it and they can form linkages in their heads.
They also fear more violence and murders may result from the fallout of this situation: “And we have had reports of confrontations, in which armed men are threatening the lives of citizens as they believe they would know where the drugs are. ’Cause in most cases, they were simply seen in the area.
Police also linked a shooting incident on August 22, at Nurse Street in Guayaguayare, where a car with false plates was found, to a group of men who were searching for the missing drugs. An extended magazine with 11 rounds of ammunition was found in that car.
Investigations are continuing.