4 illegal quarrying suspects to appear in Sangre Grande court

Four men are expected to appear before a Sangre Grande magistrate on Tuesday facing charges of illegal quarrying after a police operation at an area known as Five Acres, Vega de Oropouche, Sangre Grande on December 2.

The accused are quarry manager Willimsque Tobias, 56, of Kangalee Street, Valencia, Aaron Neptune, 26, a checker, and excavator operators Rudy Sahai, 43, of Wallerfield, Ahmeed David, of Vega de Oropouche.

They were each granted $50,000 bail by a justice of the peace after they were charged by officers of the Multi-Agency Task Force led by ASP Leon Haynes.

A 40-tonne excavator and a 20-tonne excavator among other equipment were seized during the police operation and taken to the Regiment's Camp Cumuto for safekeeping.

Officers of the task force were alerted by Forestry Division of illegal quarrying and with the assistance of the Multi-Option Police Section, the National Operations Task Force and the police Air Support Unit an operation was carried out where the suspects were arrested.

A team from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, Lands and Surveys Division and Office of the Commissioner of State Lands were also involved in the operation.