BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Jan. 19.2018 – LAW enforcement officers on Wednesday (Jan. 17), busted a quantity of illegal drugs at Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise Department.
The drugs were reportedly shipped to the federation inside a water heater labeled “Prestige Trucking Services”.
Police reports indicate that the customs officers carried out a search on the said package, which was at the agencies Bird Rock Head Office, when they came across the illegal items.
“As a result, twelve (12) packages with a vegetable material suspected to be cannabis were found inside a water heater that was enclosed in the package. The incident occurred at about 11:05 a.m. on Wednesday, January 17, 2018,” a police press statement said.
The items had a combined weight of 8,337 grams; and two individuals who were present to clear the package were taken into custody and are said to be assisting police with their investigation.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Terrence James said: "Operations such as these account for the increase in the number of drug cases seen in the 2017 statistics. The more vigilant we are, the more drug interdictions we are able to carry out. The result, of course, are more drug offences being recorded as we continue to charge the offenders,"
Commendations were given to the Customs and Excise Department and the Police officers for acting quickly in the matter.
"As part of our Strategic Plan we have been, and will continue to be, collaborating with our partner agencies as part of our crime fighting strategy," ACP James said.
Over the last several years, the police force has stepped up their fight against illegal drugs, specifically marijuana.
In his presentation of statistics for 2017 on crimes in the federation, Commissioner of Police, Ian Queeley had indicated that St. Kitts and Nevis saw an increase of over 200 crimes committed.
He disclosed that of that number 160 were related to drugs, as a result they have further stepped up their efforts to combat the problem.
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