Drug jefes creep away

POLICE have announced the seizure of $171 million worth of marijuana in the Caroni Swamp. That’s great. But when’s the arrest of the Big Fish behind these kinds of finds coming?

“Significant breakthrough,” “major success,” “a tremendous exercise” – that’s how police officials on December 11 described the operation that led to their Caroni find. They released Trump administration-style video footage, complete with Hollywood thriller music, on social media.

But such exuberance masked a rather discouraging truth. Tucked away in the statement issued by the TTPS’s corporate communications unit was the revelation that: “No arrests were made during the operation.” However, as always, “Investigations are continuing.” So, stay tuned for the sequel.

Except that sequel might never come.

According to officials, the seizure of the 1,560 kilogrammes of so-called “creepy marijuana” in Caroni was the first significant interdiction feat of the new US radar in Tobago. No details were given. Yet, it’s already on the public record that law enforcement authorities have been making significant headway in recent months when it comes to the confiscation of this narcotic.

In the last few weeks alone, seizures were made on September 12, November 1 and November 26. The exact date on which the Tobago radar became operational is unclear, but it is difficult, absent details that can’t or won’t be revealed, to credit the suggestion by Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro that the new equipment has added something special to the mix. It seems clear the police were already making headway on interdiction before the Tobago installation.

Still, the officers are to be commended. And if there has, in fact, been an enhancement of operational capacity, that too is worthy of acknowledgement. Cops continued to show they are on a roll on December 12, with the announcement of yet another bust, this time in rural Point Fortin to the tune of $56 million.

The real success, though, would come if arrests of the people behind these activities were made.

Mr Guevarro, who clumsily paraded alongside Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander in the video footage released this week, has acknowledged “that it does not paint a good picture that we are recovering two tonnes of marijuana and there is nobody to answer.” Notwithstanding, he’s facetiously dismissed calls for deeper action, saying, “Why must I leave my officers to do surveillance in the bush?”

The answer is plain to see.

Simply picking up and destroying drugs will never be enough.

In fact, some might say the premature disruption of the custody chain guarantees that those ultimately responsible escape untraced. If so, no fancy radar will ever matter. The risk of interception will remain a mere occupational hazard for drug lords; and drugs will continue to flow.