Blood flows on trail of missing $m cocaine shipment

THE LURE of making quick cash, after stumbling on packages of cocaine which washed ashore on a beach, ended in terror for the family of one villager, who was kidnapped and murdered on August 21.

The drugs were washed up on Flemming Beach, in the rural village of Fishing Pond, near Sangre Grande. Police estimated the street value of the packages to worth millions of dollars.

And they, as well as elders in the village, are pleading with other young men who carted away an estimated 30 packages of cocaine to surrender them anonymously before more harm befalls the residents of the quiet, laid-back farming community.

Police said informants claimed packages of cocaine and sealed packages of US currency, amounting to millions of dollars, began washing ashore at Fishing Pond, North Manzanilla, Manzanilla, Mayaro and Guayaguayare from August 15, after a boat transporting an estimated three tonnes of drugs capsized in the Atlantic.

Head of the Eastern Division Snr Supt Ryan Khan said the police only retrieved any of the drugs on August 23, at Guayaguayare, where 36 packets, weighing 46 kilogrammes, were found near a BP facility which had an estimated street value of over $21m.

The drugs, underworld sources told police, were destined for a Claxton Bay narcotrafficker who recently set up a base at Mafeking Village, in Mayaro.

Mayaro villagers confirmed police had searched at least 20 houses after the narcotrafficker brought a group of men to Mayaro to recover the drugs and cash which went missing.

Police said a shooting incident on August 22, at Nurse Street in Guayaguayare, where a car with false plates was found, is linked to the group of men who were searching for the missing drugs. An extended magazine with 11 rounds of ammunition was found in that car.

The following day, police acting on a tip-off raided a house at North West Trace, Mafeking Village, where they claimed the occupants started shooting. One man, later identified as Kwasi Pegus was killed and several others escaped. Police claimed the men were among those hired to find the missing drugs but Pegus relatives said he was not involved in anything illegal.

National security sources say the fallout over the missing drugs could lead to more violence in the coastal villages spanning from Fishing Pond to Guayaguayare.

Fishing Pond villagers said on August 15, a group of young men found several packages of cocaine on the deserted beach, which can only be accessed by foot by a narrow, muddy forest trail. The young men shared the packages among themselves and hid them in undisclosed locations, villagers said.

Villager pays ultimate price

They said Stefan Juri, 31, of Flemming Road, the father of one, and brother of a police officer, was one of the men who took several packages.

Police said within days Juri sold two of the packages for TT$15,000 each and two others on consignment to drug dealers in Sangre Grande.

A national security source said the almost give-away price of the high-grade cocaine, which has an estimated street value of US$35,000 a kilo, was a tell-tale signal – which led armed men hunting those who had their merchandise straight to Juri.

During a Newsday visit to the area on August 23, many people were reluctant even to respond when asked about Juri's murder and the events which triggered it.

However, villagers confided, on the basis of anonymity, that Juri was lured into meeting several men at Fishing Pond cemetery, which is perched on a hill, and concealed from prying eyes by tall grass, on the evening of August 21.

Juri was driving his van, a Nissan Frontier, and he met with at least five men in a white Nissan Tiida, villagers said. Sometime later, a villager noticed Juri's van heading into Flemming Road, followed by the white car, around 5.30 pm.

The villager said he became suspicious, as Juri hardly ever drove with his windows up, and would call out to passersby. But the person who was driving seemed to have problems engaging the gears in the manual transmission van. He said the car's windows were darkly tinted, but from the weight of the vehicle, he believed it was carrying at least four or five people.

The two vehicles were not driving fast, since the roads in that district are in a deplorable state, with large potholes at almost every turn.

The villager said within less than 20 minutes, he saw the white car coming back out of Flemming Road, which leads to Juri's garden. He said another villager went to check on Juri – and found Juri's van ablaze midway from his garden, in the middle of the road. Juri's parents also live at Flemming Road. They were alerted and the police were called in.

Another villager said he was standing near the corner of Fishing Pond Road and Genda Road, near Prax Recreation Club, when he saw the white car and Juri, with his hands tied with a strap, trying to escape. The kidnappers shot Juri, who was in the back seat, twice before driving off. Police later found Juri's naked body dumped at the side of Seecharan Trace, about five minutes' drive away from where he was shot.

First responders intercepted the white car during a roadblock at Gordon Miller Junction, but only the driver was in it. A loaded pistol was found under the driver's seat, and there were bloodstains in the back seat.

On August 25, police charged Kelvin Torres, also known as Fish, of Graham Trace, Ojoe Road, Sangre Grande with Juri's murder and firearm offences.

Villager recalled seeing a black dark-tinted SUV parked near a school in the district on the day Juri was kidnapped and killed, and believed the other men escaped in that vehicle.

Juri's relatives were reluctant to speak to Newsday on August 23, as they questioned aloud what difference it would make to speak to the media. Instead they shouted that the news team should highlight the poor condition of the road.

Several relatives, including his parents, were seated in the garage of the unfenced house.

Villagers said there had not been any vigils at the home since Juri had been killed.

At the entrance to the road leading to his parents' home, other residents had gathered and lit candles in memory of Juri. One villager described him as "down to earth" and a hard worker who earned a living from selling fruit from his estate. On that estate, at the far end of Flemming Road, Juri earned a living from mangoes, oranges and portugals whenever they were in season.

'Them thing have killing in it'

One villager elder said it was Juri's decision to sell the cocaine so quickly after it was found that led to his death.

"If it was me, I bury that for about three years before trying to make a sale. He move too quick."

The villager, like others who spoke to Newsday, was reluctant to be photographed. He said illegal drugs had washed ashore in Fishing Pond in the past, but never in such a quantity.

"Them thing have killing in it. Is the most set of strange vehicles I see start to come up here. All hour of the day and night."

He said the police and defence force had patrolled the beach in search of the cocaine packages, but by the time they had arrived, they had all been removed and hidden by "a set of youths in the village."

"Don't interfere with people thing," he warned, saying it had deadly consequences. The elder urged the other youths to surrender the cocaine they had taken, to avoid more bloodshed in their community.

Forest cover

During a 30-minute trek through the forest on the narrow, muddy track to Flemming Beach there was no evidence of any remnants of the packages which had washed ashore. The forest provided perfect cover for anyone carrying illegal items. It was dense and dotted by prickly plants on either side of the trail.

Villagers said only those with experience venture along the trails, which lead to a deserted beach about five miles long. To the east is the Fishing Pond beach, one of the areas where leatherback turtles nest, and to the south is the North Manzanilla bay, another area where illegal drugs have washed ashore in the past.

Villagers said it was easy to move along the coastline from Matura to Manzanilla
almost undetected, but warned that it could be dangerous if people are caught by the high tide against the rocks.

Police seek drugs – and answers

The Special Investigations Unit, under Snr Supt Christopher Pamponette, has taken the lead on the recovery of the cocaine.

Head of the Eastern Division Snr Supt Ryan Khan pleaded with villagers to contact the police on any of their anonymous hotlines – 555, 999 or 800-TIPS – if they had any information which could lead to the recovery of the drugs or help solve the murder.

Police advised against people bringing in any packages of drugs to police stations, as that method has serious implications if police stop them en route.

On August 23, a pirogue assigned to the Coastal and Marine Patrol Unit was seen heading to the area as police increased their patrols to combat the illegal smuggling of not only drugs but also guns and people.

But villagers said the police needed to build better relationships with those communities so they will be first on the ground to confiscate and prosecute those who seek to bring contraband into the country.