The largest drug bust in Trinidad and Tobago valued at TT$700 million (US$112 million) was made less than one mile off the Coast Guard headquarters yesterday.
The 1.75 tonnes of pure cocaine, also one of the single largest in the region, was seized in a house on Monos Island in the First Boca and less than one mile south of Staubles Bay around 3 a.m.
Eight people, five Venezuelans, one Antiguan and two Trinidadians were held with the drugs valued at $700 million.
Seven guns, including an Uzi, four handguns, two assault rifles (SLR and AR-180) and a quantity of ammunition were seized when officers from the Police Western Division and Coast Guard officers raided the house.
The AR-180 is a US version to the Russian AK-47 and the gun is said to be more effective than the M-16.
Officers also seized 247 rounds of assorted ammunition.
The 1,750 kilos of cocaine, packed in one kilo blocks and then put into 63 crocus bags, were found in the house which is owned by a company based in West Trinidad.
No link has so far been made between the company-owned house and the drugs which were found in the watchman quarters of the property.
The only other major cocaine bust to come close to yesterday's haul was on January 23, 2001, when officers from the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit (OCNU) under Insp Baldeo Nanan raided a frozen cassava packaging factory and seized 542 kilos valued at $216.8 million.
Police believe that the drug came in on the island between Monday night and yesterday morning and was bound for Europe.
Monos was being used as a transhipment point for the narcotics which it is believed came from Colombia.
However, officers could not say when the drugs was expected to leave Monos for Europe.
Monos is the largest of the islands located off Trinidad's North West coast and is about 1,000 acres in size.
There are fewer than 20 houses on the island which are private properties built on freehold leased land.
The island is heavily forested and has steep cliffs and there are no law enforcement, immigration or customs presence on the island.
The army said in a statement that the Coast Guard in company with police officers from the Western Division were conducting off-shore surveillance work from about 7.30 p.m. on Monday.
Around 3 a.m. vessels were detected on one of the Coast Guard cutter's radar system and a boat was intercepted.
Later the house was searched by the joint Coast Guard and police team.
Officers from the OCNU and Special Anti-Crime Unit were later called in for assistance when the joint team returned to Staubles Bay with the men, drugs and guns.
The drugs, which were packed into a marked black Defence Force truck and the eight suspects in a Coast Guard bus were taken to the St James Police Station around 2 p.m. yesterday.
The suspects were kept at the station while the drugs and guns were taken to OCNU headquarters for storage.
The suspects are between 30 to 59 years old.
The Trinidadians are from Cocorite and Carenage, while the Venezuelans are from the Guiria region. The exact address of the Antiguan is not known.
Police have contacted the relevant Venezuelan and Antiguan authorities and they expect that Spanish translators will be provided so that the five men from the South American mainland could be interviewed.
Police also have to trace the registered owner of the seized boat.
They are expected to appear in court sometime late this afternoon or tomorrow.
Yesterday's bust follows the seizure of three tonnes of cocaine on a boat that was intercepted about 640 kilometres off Trinidad's East Coast on Saturday.
That seizure was made by the Venezuelan Navy with the help of the French Navy.
Since October last year the British Navy, in conjunction with Jamaican law enforcement, has seized close to 12 tonnes in 36 speedboats intercepted in waters around Jamaica.
Police believe yesterday's bust and other recent cocaine hauls in the region have put a major dent in drug trafficking in the region and has hit "hard" the pockets of Colombian drug cartels.
