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Jamaica: Cops seize 5,000 lbs of ganja in Clarendon

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Five thousand pounds of compressed ganja, which the authorities valued at J$8 million, were confiscated by close to 100 cops who swooped down on a house in Mitchell Town, Clarendon yesterday morning.

Police said they have arrested Courtney Small, a 37-year-old taxi operator of Mitchell Town and charged him with possession of, dealing in ganja, and preparing the drug for export.

A woman who was at the house, and whose name the police have withheld, has been detained for questioning.

The police also said they believe the ganja was destined for Haiti as part of what appears to be a lucrative drugs-for-guns trade between that impoverished Caribbean state and Jamaica.

The police say a container of gasoline found at the scene, as well as intelligence gathered, led them to believe that a boat would have been used to transport the drug.

"This is a major dent in the drugs-for-guns trade with Haiti and Jamaica based on the intelligence we have gathered off the ground," said Constable Odale Mulgrave, the Constabulary Communication Network liaison officer for Clarendon. "We do know that it is in connection, but we can't state what the intelligence we received is saying."

Constable Mulgrave explained that the raid started at around 6:30 am. The police, he said, cordoned off and searched the house, which is located along a dirt track. The ganja, he said, was found in the backyard.

"It was neatly compressed and wrapped with masking tape and placed in chicken feed bags and just lying in the backyard," Constable Mulgrave said.

He said two dogs were tied close to the weed, apparently to guard it.

The police, he said, are anxious to locate the persons whose names were written on each bag of the illegal substance.

"We believe it is an organised drug trade because there were numbers and letters which could be codes, as well as the weight of each bag," said Constable Mulgrave.

The narcotics police and Operation Kingfish will be collaborating with the Clarendon police in the investigations, according to Constable Mulgrave.

Last month, the narcotics police seized more than 15,000 pounds of compressed ganja found in three Toyota Hiace buses at a premises in the Goodwill Avenue area of Kingston 6.

No one was arrested for that drug find.