Members of the Joint Services yesterday morning destroyed a total of just over 1,000 pounds of narcotics that had been seized in busts dating back to 2013.
The drugs, which were destroyed by fire, largely comprised cannabis and cocaine recovered by ranks of the Police Narcotics Branch and the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU). They carried a total street value of $187.7 million.
The exercise, which was conducted at Yarrowkabra, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, was undertaken after the completion of the respective court cases in which the narcotics would have been used as evidence.
“These are drugs that would have reach its finality through the courts… the cases were either dismissed or persons were convicted,” Superintendent of Police Kurleigh Simon, who heads the Police Narcotics Branch, said.
A total of 133 kilogrammes (equivalent to 293 pounds) of cannabis and 74 kilogrammes (163 pounds) of cocaine were destroyed by the police, while 210.2 kilogrammes (463 pounds) of cannabis, 40.7 kilogrammes (89.7 pounds) of cocaine, and 304 grammes of heroin were destroyed by CANU.
Deputy Head of CANU Leslie Ramlall told the media that 602 grammes of an unknown substance were destroyed by his agency.
Quantities of the drugs were randomly selected and tested on site by members of the National Forensic Science Laboratory to ensure they were real before they were destroyed.
