Trinidad and Tobago: Intelligence-led exercises continue arrests and drugs seized

Trinidad and Tobago: Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) has recently updated about the arrest of nine men in exercises conducted in the Northern, Southern, and Western Divisions yesterday, on April 22. Three firearms, a quantity of ammunition and drugs were also seized during these exercises.

As per the update by police, three of the arrests occurred after Northern Division officers received information and proceeded to the Blanchisseuse Old Road. They conducted surveillance which led them to intercept a gold Toyota Hilux with three occupants. The vehicle was searched and a shotgun and five rounds of 12-gauge cartridges were allegedly recovered. The vehicle’s three occupants were arrested in connection with the find.

TTPS, through its official social media handle, informed that officers of the Division also conducted search warrant exercises between 6 pm to 9 pm, which resulted in the arrest of a 32-year-old Arima resident after 117.9 grammes of marijuana was allegedly found in a clear plastic bag hidden in a pot on the stove at his residence. Officers also received information during the exercise, which led them to an empty lot along Pope Avenue. A search was conducted, and 15 rounds of nine-millimetre ammunition, 12 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, and five rounds of 7.62 ammunition were allegedly found.

Meanwhile, in the Southern Division, while on exercise duty around 6:30 pm yesterday, PC Ramcharan received information and proceeded to the Claxton Bay area, where he allegedly found a firearm in a bushy area in a mangrove. Four men were also arrested for drug-related offences by Southern Division Task Force officers in a separate exercise.

While concluding the social media update, the Police Service stated that officers of the Carenage Police Station, Coastal Patrol Unit, and Special Patrol Unit conducted an exercise in Carenage between the hours of 6 pm on Friday, 21st April 2023 and 6 am on Saturday 22nd April 2023. They observed a parked silver Nissan B15 with a lone occupant in the driver’s seat while in the vicinity of Hart’s Cut Base in Chaguaramas. Officers questioned the man and searched the vehicle, where they discovered a small brown pouch on the floor of the vehicle, allegedly containing a firearm with one magazine. The man, a 21-year-old from Aranguez, was arrested and taken to the Carenage Police Station.