The police have again made a big ganja bust on the north coast, this time in St Ann.
This is the third ganja seizure made following on the heels of two ganja finds in July and early August.
In the recent seizure, two men were arrested by the Area Two Narcotics Police on Friday, August 11 after ganja valued at more than $1 million was allegedly found in their vehicle along the Priory main road in St Ann.
The identities of the men have been withheld by the police.
Reports from the Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) are that between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., a team of officers from the Area Two Narcotics division, was conducting a snap operation, when they stopped and searched a silver Toyota Belta motor car with two men abroad.
During the search they found 71 rectangular and circular parcels wrapped in brown masking tape containing ganja weighing approximately 255.3 pounds.
The drug has a street value of Jamaican $1, 531,880.
The motorcar was seized and the two men subsequently taken into custody.
They are to be questioned in the presence of their attorneys before being charged with possession of, dealing in, trafficking, and taking steps to export ganja.
$68 MILLION DOLLAR GANJA BUST IN ST MARY
The Area 2 police also came up big in Islington two weeks ago.
They seized more than one thousand seven hundred pounds of compressed ganja, valued at some 68 million Jamaican dollars.
A report from the Constabulary Communications Unit (CCU) said team of officers assigned to the Area 2 Narcotics Division seized the ganja during a police /military operation at a beach in Islington, St. Mary on Saturday, August 5.
Reports are that about 3:00 a.m., lawmen carried out a search of four huts in the area where 44 knitted bags and a suitcase, containing 220 parcels of compressed ganja were found. One 40 HP Yamaha Enduro boat engine was also seized. No one was arrested in relation to this seizure.
The illicit drug has an estimated street value of J$68 million.
At the time of the report, no arrest was made for that seizure.
JULY SEIZURE
In July, a man and a woman from Boscobel, also in St Mary were arrested for a seizure of 257 pounds of ganja.
Those charged were: 37-year-old Clarence Richards, a mason and plumber and Tamara Brown, 37, unemployed, both of Boscobel, in St Mary.
The two appeared in the St Mary Parish Court on Thursday, July 13 on charges of possession of ganja, dealing in ganja and taking steps to export ganja.
Senior parish judge Yvette Wentworth-Miller offered Richards and Brown bail in the sum of $500,000 with surety following a successful bail application by their attorney, Oswest Senior-Smith.
The allegations outlined in court are that on Thursday, July 6 at about 10:30 p.m., police officers, including the investigating officer went to Gully Road, in Boscobel based on intelligence received.
They went with a search warrant and executed it on both accused persons in the Gully Road area.
Both accused persons were found lying under a bed in a one storey building in a room. A shop was also located on the building. In this shop, three travelling bags were observed.
A search of the building led the police to find vegetable matter, resembling ganja. The vegetable matter was found in rectangular shaped parcels and cylindrical shaped parcels that were wrapped in transparent plastic and masking tape.
When Richards was cautioned, he gave no statement to the officers. However, Brown said, “Offica mi nuh live here.”
The estimated weight of the ganja is 357 pounds. The Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) of the police force said the ganja has an estimated street value of Jamaican $2,142,000.
That matter is still before the courts. V
