Coast Guard chases smugglers, drugs thrown overboard

Two days after 400 kilos of cocaine were seized from an Ecuador-flagged vessel off the north coast of Trinidad, the coast guard again seized almost 200 kilos of drugs after a brief chase in the Gulf of Paria on Thursday night.

Police said coast guard sailors were aboard an interceptor patrolling off Icacos when the crew spotted a boat travelling towards Port of Spain at around 9.05 pm.

As the sailors chased the boat, the crew saw bags being thrown overboard.

The boat eventually escaped by sailing into Venezuelan waters at around 9.36 pm.

The coast guard found and seized seven bags that were thrown overboard. When they returned to their base at Staubles Bay, Chaguaramas, they handed over the bags to the St James CID.

They contained 146 packets of marijuana weighing a total of 102.1 kilos, and 75 packets of cocaine weighing 82.7 kilos.