Peeps over on fb keep referring to some $20 million drug bust as the catalyst for some of the gang violence we've seen explode in the last few weeks.....ah raking mih brain trying to remember the story.......
......I'm sure removing the Police post that was set up in the East POS area didn't help either.....
Must be this , this in the only big drug bust this week
$22M cocaine bust – teen in court
SEIZED COCAINE: Several packets of cocaine, estimated at $22 million, which were seized by officers of the Organised Crime, Narcotics, and Firearms Bureau, at Piarco Airport. The cocaine was found in two suitcases bound for New York. A 19-year-old youth appeared in court yesterday charged with the offence. A 19-year-old man has been remanded in custody after appearing before an Arima magistrate yesterday charged for possession of an estimated $22 million worth of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking.
Nathaniel Bowen, of Almond Boulevard, Arima, stood in silence with his hands clasped when he appeared before Magistrate Indra Ramoo-Haynes in the First Court.
He was charged for the possession of 53.926 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking; with possession of an illegal drug for the purposes of export; and possession of 10.9 grammes of marijuana.
Bowen was represented by defence attorney Reynold Waldropt.
It was alleged that at about 10.40 pm on August 16 last, officers of the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau, were on duty at the Piarco International Airport, when they intercepted two suitcases that were checked in to load onto a Carribean Airlines flight destined for New York.
One of the suitcases was green. It held 25 packets of cocaine all wrapped in a blue blanket. The other suitcase was blue, and also contained 25 packets of cocaine, wrapped in an orange blanket.
Further investigations by the officers led them to detain Bowen, who it was alleged, the person who checked in the suitcases.
As a result, the teenager was arrested, and a search was conducted at his home, where officers later discovered the marijuana hidden in a green pouch. The teenager was then charged and kept in custody until his appearance before the magistrate.
After giving the court a description of the items, Police Prosecutor Sgt Fitzgerald Johnson, explained that he would be objecting to bail due to the amount of drugs seized, and the fact that the State had yet to obtain a background tracing on the young man. “I respectfully ask the court to use its discretion to please consider the amount of drugs discovered, the prevalence and the seriousness of the offence, as well as the fact that the complainants have so far been unable to obtain a tracing on the accused.
“As a result I am asking the court to deny bail at this time,” Johnson noted.
However, Waldropt dismissed this argument, saying that according to the Bail Act, bail was an entitlement to all accused persons, and that his client should not have to suffer for the police’s inability to obtain background tracings, despite keeping him in custody for over two days.
“The accused was arrested on August 16, while at work. Today is the 19th. The police had ample opportunity to secure tracings, especially in this day and age with the technology available to them.
“The accused is a teenager who lives with his parents. My instructions are that he has no previous or pending matters. He is simply a clerk at Servisair, and as a result of the circumstances of the arrest, I am respectfully asking the court for reasonable bail in this matter,” Waldropt noted, but bail was denied.
The matter is scheduled to resume on September 16.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/crime_and_court/0,145914.html