Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

A SIGNIFICANT dent in the more lucrative cocaine trade has forced drug dealers to switch their focus to ganja.

Information Officer at Operation Kingfish, Inspector Steve Brown, told The Gleaner yesterday that, since intensifying the fight against illicit drugs, police have noticed changes in the operation of druggists.

"These persons, from what we are seeing, have switched from cocaine to ganja," Inspector Brown said.

His pronouncement came hours after a Kingfish Operation on Tuesday resulted in the recovery of 1,081 pounds of ganja which the police believe was being sent overseas.

The seizure, which took place along the Spur Tree main road in Manchester, was the third ganja find in two weeks for the local police. One week ago, police confiscated more than $205 million worth of compressed ganja in a two-day operation.

In the latest seizure, the police said that, about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, members of the security forces, acting on intelligence, intercepted a Toyota Hiace bus which was searched and the drug found.

Two undergoing interrogation

Two men who were travelling in the vehicle were taken into custody and are currently being interrogated by detectives assigned to the Narcotics division.

The police said intelligence indicates that the drug was being transported from Westmoreland to Vernamfield to be taken out of the island.

In just over two years of operation, Kingfish says it has seized more than 55 go-fast boats and 13 metric tonnes of cocaine. Inspector Brown said this was achieved primarily because of heavy patrols of Jamaica's territorial waters by the Jamaica Defence Force Coastguard and international partners.

"Because of this we have made it difficult for drugs to leave from Colombia to our shores," he claimed.

Police authorities have said Jamaica is being used as a trans-shipment point for cocaine heading from Colombia to the developed world.

Ganja, according to the police, often leaves the country for Haiti where it is bartered for guns. Noting that the drug trade is a multi-billion dollar industry, Inspector Brown said the price of ganja has increased in recent times following the dent in the cocaine trade.