Cops make $83.5 million hashish seizure in Manzanilla

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The police officers attached to the Eastern Division have found a rubber dinghy loaded with bales of hashish weighing over 3,425 lbs with a street value of over $83.5 million.

Hashish, also known as hash, is a potent form of marijuana made by compressing and processing trichomes of cannabis plants. It is consumed by smoking typically in a pipe, bong, joint or via oral ingestion.

No one was arrested, the hashish was confiscated by the police.

Police said it is one of the biggest drug busts they have made in recent times.

According to a police report, officers attached to the Sangre Grande, Valencia, Manzanilla and Mayaro police stations followed a tip that led them three and a half miles into a forested area in North Manzanilla to a secluded beach on Friday.

The exercise took place between 2 pm and 10 pm.

Upon arrival, police officers observed a black dingy. Further checks revealed 44 bags of Hashish inside of the vessel, each contained 12,900 packets each with a weight of 90 grammes, and a combined weight of 1161 kilogrammes. The find has an estimated street value of $83,582,000.

Due to the terrain, the officers had to seek the assistance of fishermen.

The drug, they said, is used mainly by the elite class and not by the average person.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Ag.), Eastern Division, Ryan Khan, coordinated the efforts of officers of the Task Force, Criminal Investigations Department, Valencia and Manzanilla Police Post, Special Investigations Unit and the Air Support Unit, led by Insp Ronnie Rampallard.

Khan thanked the officers for acting swiftly in seizing the highly potent substance and for ensuring that the drugs—which police said usually cause havoc and violence within communities—are out of the hands of criminals who traffic and trade these narcotics.

Investigations are ongoing.