$12m in marijuana up in flames

POLICE destroyed marijuana trees representing $12 million worthof the illegal herb during an eradication exercise held on Wednesday in the forests off Figarie Trace, Basse Terre, Moruga.

A police press release on Thursday said two marijuana fields were found on five lots of cleared land about a mile inside the forest.

The lots comprised two camps, two seedling beds, 1,200 fully-grown marijuana trees, and 12.5 kilogrammes of cured marijuana, with an estimated street value of $12,218,000. Police put the marijuana trees and seedlings into heaps and set them on fire.

A magazine clip for an Uzi machine gun was found at the site. No one was arrested.

The exercise, which took place between 7 am and 1 pm, was supervised by acting Insp Conliffe and co-ordinated by Sgt Mc Donald. It also included acting Cpl Seelalsingh, Cpls Bahadoor and Forbes and officers of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Southern Division Task Force (SDTF) and the Air Support Unit.