A SHIPMENT of compressed ganja destined for Antigua was seized on Monday at the Kingston Wharves by members of the Customs Contraband Enforcement Team (CET).
"I got an anonymous call on Friday and I immediately sent for the container," Senior Superintendent Carl Williams told The Gleaner.
The 40-ft container was yesterday taken to the narcotics headquarters on Spanish Town Road, St. Andrew, where it was stripped and 561 pounds of ganja was found concealed among motor vehicle tyres.
The tyres were reportedly being exported by a Kingston-based tyre company to an Antiguan company. Nobody has yet been arrested. "A quantity of ganja was also found in tyres on another container," said SSP Williams.
Monday's seizure came on the heels of last Friday's burning of more than 40,000 pounds of ganja with a street value of over US$1-billion. According to SSP Williams, the ganja destroyed was seized between 2000 and 2002.
"These cases were either disposed of or no arrest was made in them," the Narcotics Chief told The Gleaner.
Since the start of the year, the police have seized over 7,340 pounds of ganja. In addition, they have arrested 52 persons, between January and February 16, who were held allegedly leaving the island's two international airports with illegal drugs in their possession.
The narcotics police on Sunday night arrested a Dutch man, Ricardo De Vries, 30, computer programmer of Hartford in the Netherlands, after sniffer dogs detected one and a half pounds of ganja in his luggage at the Sangster International Airport. He was in the process of boarding a flight to Amsterdam.
