Marine cops net two drug boats

(CNS): The RCIPS Joint Marine Unit (JMU) has seized two boats and an undisclosed quantity of ganja and arrested five men in an operation which began in the early hours of Thursday morning. At about 4:30am on 25 January, the marine officers came across two boats acting suspiciously near the Big Channel entrance to North Sound. As the officers moved to intercept the vessels, both of them made off. But with the help of the RCIPS helicopter, which pursued one of the boats, the JMU recovered one of the vessels when it was abandoned in shallow water close to Uncle Bob Road, West Bay.

Police found a large quantity of ganja on board and with the help of local residents and land-based police officers, two men were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the importation of ganja and human smuggling. One was 36-year-old man from West Bay and the second was a 39-year-old man from Jamaica.

Although the second vessel had made off to sea during the early morning chase, the following day (Friday 26 January) customs and police officers came across what was believed to be the same boat in Cayman Brac. Three Jamaican nationals who were on the canoe, aged 33, 29, and 31, were arrested on suspicion of a number of offences, including drug trafficking.

All of the men remain in police custody and investigations are ongoing, police said.