DEA goes to local judge in $640 M cocaine case
By NALINEE SEELAL Monday, January 27 2014
A group of officers from an elite police unit, who have teamed up with officers of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to probe the smuggling of TT$640 million in cocaine, into the United States last month, are expected to apply to a Judge in Chambers to secure the financial records of a customs broker, a senior customs official, and a local businessman, in connection with the drug smuggling.
Sources revealed yesterday that officers of Homeland Security in the United States, who have taken over the investigations into the drug smuggling at the Norfolk Port in Virginia, USA, have interviewed several persons in connection with the incident and this has led them to believe that the two customs officials and the businessman could assist them in their probe into how the drugs ended up in the US.
Under the Proceeds of Crime Act Chapter 11:27 (section 32), “(a) police officer may, for the purposes of an investigation, in or outside of Trinidad and Tobago into — (a) a specified offence;
(b) whether a person has benefitted from a specified offence; (c) the extent or whereabouts of the proceeds of a specified offence; or (d) drug trafficking, apply to a judge for an order in relation to particular material or material of a particular description.â€
Up until yesterday, DEA officials who have been working alongside local law enforcement officials into the probe met to discuss the status of the investigation and the way forward.
On December 20, 700 sealed tins, which had the markings of Trinidad Juice, were scanned at the Port of Norfolk inside a shipping container bound for New York. Officers used advanced technology to perform an initial inspection of the 20-foot container which arrived from Trinidad and Tobago, and when they did so, they were shocked to discover the large quantity of cocaine hidden in the tins.
The cocaine, which weighed 332 kilos is worth US$100 million (TT$640 million) and the drug bust was described as the largest in the history of the Norfolk Port.
By NALINEE SEELAL Monday, January 27 2014
A group of officers from an elite police unit, who have teamed up with officers of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to probe the smuggling of TT$640 million in cocaine, into the United States last month, are expected to apply to a Judge in Chambers to secure the financial records of a customs broker, a senior customs official, and a local businessman, in connection with the drug smuggling.
Sources revealed yesterday that officers of Homeland Security in the United States, who have taken over the investigations into the drug smuggling at the Norfolk Port in Virginia, USA, have interviewed several persons in connection with the incident and this has led them to believe that the two customs officials and the businessman could assist them in their probe into how the drugs ended up in the US.
Under the Proceeds of Crime Act Chapter 11:27 (section 32), “(a) police officer may, for the purposes of an investigation, in or outside of Trinidad and Tobago into — (a) a specified offence;
(b) whether a person has benefitted from a specified offence; (c) the extent or whereabouts of the proceeds of a specified offence; or (d) drug trafficking, apply to a judge for an order in relation to particular material or material of a particular description.â€
Up until yesterday, DEA officials who have been working alongside local law enforcement officials into the probe met to discuss the status of the investigation and the way forward.
On December 20, 700 sealed tins, which had the markings of Trinidad Juice, were scanned at the Port of Norfolk inside a shipping container bound for New York. Officers used advanced technology to perform an initial inspection of the 20-foot container which arrived from Trinidad and Tobago, and when they did so, they were shocked to discover the large quantity of cocaine hidden in the tins.
The cocaine, which weighed 332 kilos is worth US$100 million (TT$640 million) and the drug bust was described as the largest in the history of the Norfolk Port.
