Cops find ganja trees near UTT campus

IT WAS not a case of the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) conducting research into marijuana, but someone attempting to disguise their illegal cultivation of the herb.

Police stumbled upon 20 marijuana trees metres away from UTT’s Corinth Hill, Ste Madeleine campus at about 4.30 pm on Tuesday. They were pursuing a suspect after residents living along the Old Train Line reported seeing him with a gun.

A police report said that when PC Sujeet Ramcharan led a party of officers from the Southern Task Force to the scene, they spotted the suspect who had a black object in his hand. Ramcharan, PCs Meah and Vialva chased the man who, according to the report, ran under a house and then into the bushes.

The cops pursued and found themselves along the iron and concrete fence on the eastern side of UTT. The police saw a camp about five meters from the fence and in a bushy area around it were yellow containers. When they stepped closer, they counted 20 marijuana trees and ten seedlings (juvenile trees). The police estimate they value of the trees at $30,000. The officers continued their pursuit of the suspect but did not catch him.