The owners of the property on Monos Island where cocaine valued at TT$700 million (US$112 million) was seized on Tuesday have expressed shock over the incident.
They are also denying any knowledge of the alleged illicit activities at their vacation home.
The home is co-owned by two families with one set having possession of the house and its adjacent cabin since 1975.
Officers of the Western Police Division netted over 1,783 kilogrammes of high grade cocaine as well as guns and ammunition when they detained two pirogues and stormed the 15 x 12 foot caretakers quarters which sits just above the house on the edge of the sea at Passy Bay on the tiny island.
It was the biggest drug haul ever in Trinidad and Tobago.
Grace Fitzwilliam who co-owns the house with her husband Patrick Allen Fitzwilliam and Helen Forbes, said yesterday that they were both ashamed of the scandal which has linked their names to the raid.
During the joint Police-Coast Guard raid, eight suspects were held and are expected to appear before a Port of Spain Magistrate today. One of the suspects was the caretaker of the premises, and his fishing boat was among the two boats seized. The other boat belongs to a second suspect who is a Carenage fisherman. Both boats are now under arrest at Staubles Bay.
"We are utterly shocked," said Grace Fitzwilliam, who lives at Ellerslie Park, St. Clair.
She said she and her husband were retirees and "we knew nothing about it. It's a terrible shock."
The narrow white building which the family uses on rare occasions is perched on the side of a steep hill. It sits about one mile across the sea from Teteron Bay, home of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment. Without binoculars, Teteron Bay can be clearly seen from the house.
Fitzwilliam wondered if drug dealing had been taking place there, "how come they (the Regiment) did not see it?"
Although she could not recall the name of the caretaker, she said he had been employed for two years.
The other co-owner of the house, Helen Forbes, who lives in Carenage, said she was getting on in years and found it difficult to even board a boat to visit the house.
Forbes, 78, told the Daily Express that it has been six years since she has been to the house but admitted that other family members visit from time to time.
Meanwhile, Western Division Police continue to dismiss claims by the Special Anti Crime Unit (SAUTT) that it was part of the raid.
Sources said that Western Division officers arrived at the scene around 1 a.m on Tuesday morning, and embarked on the raid at about 3 a.m. It was not until about 9 a.m after senior officers were contacted that SAUTT members arrived at Chaguaramas, the source said.
The SAUTT officers then began making vigorous inquiries about the bust, the source added.
