$220k cash seized in West Bay drug bust
Customs canine and his handler, Customs Officer Tate McFarlane
(CNS): Police and customs officers arrested three people and seized an undisclosed quantity of ganja and cocaine as well as CI$220,000 in cash following a raid which took place over two days at a West Bay house. The joint operation began at around 3:40pm on Thursday, 28 June, at an undisclosed address off Watercourse Road, when the property was searched and a large quantity of packages containing ganja, portions of cocaine, drug utensils and weighing scales and some cash was found.
Two West Bay men, aged 28 and 35, were arrested on suspicion of possession and consumption of ganja, possession of ganja with intent to supply, possession of cocaine, and possession of cocaine with intent to supply. They have since been bailed.
The officers returned the next day with customs canines, and the dogs directed the officers to two more locations, where the officers found more ganja and much more money hidden in a cardboard box, bringing the total amount of cash seized at the location to over CI $220,000.
A 59-year-old woman from West Bay was arrested on suspicion of possession of criminal property, being concerned in the possession of ganja with intent to supply and possession of cocaine with intent to supply. She was also bailed yesterday, 10 July. No charges have yet been brought.
Police Commissioner Derek Byrne said he was pleased with the operation as officers had “uncovered and disrupted an organised criminal enterprise which has managed to accumulate a significant amount of money”.
Explaining that the money has been seized under the Proceeds of Crime Law, he added, “We will continue to take action to target and disrupt these criminal enterprises and deprive them of the proceeds of their criminal activity.”
Collector of Customs Charles Clifford said the joint operation “demonstrated the commitment to work together to disrupt criminal activity and arrest offenders”. He added, “This collaborative approach to fighting crime must increasingly include members of our community as they play a vital role in sharing critical information with us.”
It needs to be made public where this $220k will go and what it will be used for.
Very valid point!
You 11.51 am do not seem to understand how it works. This money upon conviction of the suspects, will be ordered forfeit to the Crown as proceeds of criminal conduct, and go into the general revenue account. Government does not operate a “piggy bank” system of money management. From general revenue it can be used to pay various costs in operating Govt.
Let it go to Education/scholarship fund for Caymanians. Very unlikely it’ll end up there but that’s the most appropriate.
hey, when are you going to clean up little cayman????????
When are they going to clean up Cayman Brac?
Cayman Brac, They only have a pound of weed most of the time.aint nutin up ya to clean up
I’m confused. So many comments talking about legalization. Are people advocating legalizing cocaine as well?
No coke. Just free the herbs.
Why not! Take the profit from the cartels and use the money for education and rehab facilities. Portugal decriminalized everything and they saw a change. Overdoses don’t happen like they used to. Now we don’t have an OD problem but we do have a criminals trafficking problem that needs sorted. The guns come with the drugs.
Can we use that $220,000 to spruce up the West Bay DVDL?!
Like get someone to create a website that we can pay and do everything online so we don’t have to talk to any of the very unhappy people there?
Not to mention illiterate.
How come people who are caught with such an amount of illegal cash and drugs can be released on bail?
Because there is no space left in prison?
Because you’re innocent until proven guilty… and it’s not constitutional to lock up innocent people. That’s why.
To 11.58 am that is the law buddy, innocent until proven guilty!
CARICOM report says legalize marijuana use
https://wp.caribbeannewsnow.com/2018/07/10/caricom-report-says-legalize-marijuana-use/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CaribbeanNewsNowDailyHeadlines+%28Caribbean+News+Now%21+Latest+Headlines%29
11.04am – you say CARICOM!!!! Run and scream and wake up the premier. Please
What money can’t buy –
A bed BUT NOT sleep
A computer BUT NO brains
A plate of food BUT NOT appetite
A house BUT NO peace of mind
A doctor’s visit BUT NOT health
A luxery BUT NO culture
A pleasure BUT NOT lasting happiness
A buddy BUT NOT a friend
Obedience BUT NOT loyalty
Sex BUT NOT love …
And a weak minded person will do anything for the god of money, because they love self more than principle, they lack hope in a Supreme Being to take of their needs, and they rely on how societal devices rather than inner potential. When people are desperate and they sense God is quiet, they turn to the god of self and the money-system. The devil then leads them astray to not only harm themselves but other people.
Only those who love righteous living despite the hardships, will be the winners of this life! ????????
Learn well, I don’t know where to start. I’ll just start here.
Things god can’t do for you
Cure your cancer
Buy you a bed
Pay your bills
Make your friends like you
Let same sex marry
Prevent dangerous births
Make you a better person
Lists are just lists. Money is a lovely thing to have. Not everything has to be evil. I feel like I have to say this too often: you don’t need Jesus to be a good person, just like you don’t lack Jesus to be a criminal.
Your reply is ridiculous!
So is the first comment.
A typical atheist know-it-all response. Love to copy and paste from other people. Misguided brainiacs!
???? laughing
Christians are the ones who claim to know it all
You have declared the “one true faith” despite the lack of evidence and inconsistencies in the bible
That makes you the braggadocios know-it-alls not the other way around
What you refer to as “atheist know it alls” tend more often than not to be agnostic persons who are not bothered either way
Of course expecting some like yourself to understand the nuance in these issues is improbable
I’ll break it down for you
Atheists claim there is no god ( which is just as bad as the religious claiming their is a god in my opinion, they tend to be the ones who poke at religions to piss people off)
Agnostics admit they have no idea whether there is or isn’t a god and admit their ignorance (such as myself, though I also partake in the religious poking)
Believers of various religions and faiths claim to know the absolute truth in relation to spirituality while discounting all other religions (even if the other religions have just as much “proof” as they do, making them (at least in my opinion the most incorrect and the most “know it all-y”
Diogenes
[sorry to interrupt]
Diogenes, I believe most people are agnostic like yourself because they mainly rely on empirical evidence also known as sensory experience.
But think for a moment – imagine you’re driving a car along a three lane highway, and two cars are ahead of you driving slow and you need to pass them to reach your destination on time … but you “rely so much on your senses” that you can’t negotiate between the two cars. You follow your eyes instead and say the way between the two cars looks narrow, so you refuse to negotiate. Instead you are thinking, thinking, thinking and thinking what ifs (doing what Diogenes do best) but getting no where on time to your destination.
Why? No offence, but an agnostic is a fence sitter. They can’t connect the facts of life and make an important judgment! Too much “what ifs” on their minds. It even affects the relationships they have – at have a bit of faith. Thus, with no vision, no leadership, how can they stand for any principled thing ???
THIS IS THE BIG DELIMMA WITH BEING AGNOSTIC
A typical so called religious person judging others.
I am not an atheist- I am a true Jedi who walks the righteous path. All other religions are irrelevant and offer as much as the barren moons of Tatouhine.
Damn! They busted my pharmacist.
Hi CNS…I know not directly related but there was a lot of concern regarding potential prosecution and penalty discrepancies between white/blue collar and local/expats raised when XXXX
CNS: Wendy keeps up with all the major cases but these things can take a long time to go through the courts. Sometimes defendants appear for just a mention and it’s not worth reporting on. We’ll post an update when something happens.
Government is profiting from cannabis oil. It’s ok to use marijuana as long as the money you’re spending for it goes into the governments pocket.
CIG make no profit from cannabis oil, it is the provately owned pharmacies that are making profits from the sales of the oil. CIG only makes money from licensing fees and import duties.
“CIG only makes money from licensing fees and import duties” Thus making money from cannabis oil.
Indirect income. The previous comment made it seem like CIG sold cannabis oil, which is not the case. CIG make duty on all imported goods.
First sentence: CIG makes no profit
Second sentence: CIG only makes money
Yup, makes sense.
To be fair, just because you’re receiving money doesn’t mean you’re making a profit
The government spends zero money to bring it in. Thus… a profit!
“CIG only makes money from licensing fees and import duties.”
Otherwise known as, making money. Geez, you forget your coffee this morning?
I sleep a whole lot better through all the gunshots and murders knowing our Franz and Alden are at the helm of our islands controls working diligently to keep us safe and crime free. Whew had to get that one out there mann they good???? Let me turn my electrified fence for the night!
12.31am???????????????? wha u sa???? Sheppie!!!
Just goes to show you that the Cayman Islands have a sensational appetite for drugs, mini America.
How sad they are exposing HM custom assets to potential threats and danger so some can justify their exorbitant spending on law enforcement??? truth be told this smuggling outfit became established and well organized because those like Baines and his foreign specialist determined drugs had not effect on Cayman’s criminal situation. Typical colonial strategy create a problem so you need to fix or deal with. Who says Crime doesn’t pay? pays very well for some it would appear!
Go there Tatie
Yes correct 2 49. What the hell are they thinking by putting this officer’s photo on here!!! Idiots. We should have photos of the criminals.
Taters gon tate
Strange that for security purposes you can’t use your phone in the arrival Customs Halls, yet here we expose the name and picture of a specialized and critical officer in this fight – so everyone can clap. Did we forget to post his home address so that we can deliver balloons?!? In most countries in the region, drug task force teams wear masks to avoid being ID’ed. It’s serious business. It makes you wonder if the RCIPS and HM Customs even know the stakes of the game they are playing.
That is because they are so desperate for headline grabbing articles because it justifies the enormous amount of money being spent by our political imbeciles who are marveled and mesmerized by numbers like 500,000 and 220,000 which makes them get a tinglely feeling that our money is some how being put to good use. The picture is icing on the cake by throwing a Caymanian face in the mix gives our government stooges a orgasmic high that highlights their mediocre foreign led management skills. Sorry folks i hate to kill your enthusiasm and belief in the RCIPS but we were doing more before with less money and fanfare and we did not have to expose assets or personnel to both very dangerous and organized crime and drug gangs to make inept or incompetent leadership look good! Well done to all front line and street level enforcement teams it is a real pity that you wont get any or little of accolades that will be showered down on the foreign led high command and their covert investigative secret team of investigators! Who will both hoard information and investigative techniques from you because that knowledge affords and justify there very existence here for their economic and political benefit. This Cuban led group has been in existence for sometime and got caught because they became rather careless and complacent in their criminal actions.
They know! but its not about safety of officers or their families, its about justifying the amount of our money and equipment law enforcement is given by our political dingbats. A Caymanian poster boy helps sell it to their big ego’s and tiny brains.
They just underestimate our local criminals as amateurs. The things that happen here are eye opening and laughable at the same time.
I’m not sure I understand the issue. The guy pictured works at Customs, not RCIPS nor as undercover. He’s not Drugs Task Force.
Ever heard of a file photo??
Lol, this isn’t a photo stock.
Prohibition only makes the bad guys rich…
You got the bi where they found cocaine as well as ganga, right?
This is bust is fishfood in the grand scheme of things, but also points out how much money government is missing out on by not legalizing and taxing recreational cannabis use.
Your government gets all the money it needs by cutting deals with the big player to sell off your island.
Audit please.
Yeah, coz by the time this gets to court might only be $1500 left…, you know, depreciation and all that stuff
i wonder how much of this money was from persons receiving assistance from NAU.
Watercourse Rd seems to be a popular address when it comes to crime.
Yes, the helicopter is flying overhead as I type this!! For real!