Trinidad and Tobago police destroyed 8.3 tons of narcotics worth $1.68 billion. Officials called it a landmark day for accountability.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service destroyed more than 8.3 tons of illegal narcotics with an estimated street value of $1.68 billion on Tuesday, in an exercise officials described as a landmark moment for transparency and public accountability. The drugs, seized in multiple operations by the Southern, Eastern and North Eastern divisions along with the Special Investigations Unit, included seizures dating back two decades, and were destroyed by fire at the Caroni Cremation Site.
Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro, who supervised the exercise, said the haul included cocaine, marijuana, heroin and ecstasy pills, and that a full breakdown by drug type was not immediately available. He said publicly destroying the narcotics demonstrated accountability to citizens and ensured fewer drugs would reach young people or fund gang violence, noting that the destroyed stockpile included roughly $700 million worth of cocaine seized off Monos Island in 2005 and two tons of marijuana discovered in the Caroni Swamp last year, along with narcotics confiscated at airports and during other anti-crime operations. Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander also addressed reporters, describing the ongoing drug trade as a threat to communities and urging parents to help prevent narcotics from entering their homes.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Kerwin Francis said the exercise coincided with continued financial investigations into drug trafficking networks, adding that once a benefit from trafficking or other serious crime is established, authorities can pursue court-ordered confiscation of property, which can be sold with proceeds deposited into the state’s seized assets fund. Guevarro said the destruction also marked the launch of a 12-week TTPS initiative focused on marijuana use among youth and raising awareness of the dangers of drug abuse.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar addressed the exercise in a social media post, saying the government would continue pursuing the local drug trade’s financial, distribution and public sector networks. She said the narcotics destroyed represented about 1% of the country’s annual GDP, and said tracking the funds generated by drug trafficking was already underway with local and international partners. The TTPS asked the public to continue partnering with law enforcement to help remove illegal drugs from communities.