Officers from Royal Anguilla Police Service CID, Criminal Intelligence Dept and Drugs and Guns Taskforce undertook a large scale joint search operation, with colleagues from Anguilla Customs Department, on Tuesday afternoon at Road Bay Port. They were joined by a number officers from the British Virgin Islands Customs, including their drugs dog team, which was flown in to provide extra staff to assist with the search.

A container in the customs pound containing barrels of partially treated animal skins was opened and searches, underneath the putrid smelling skins, revealed dozens of barrels contained numerous packages of compressed cannabis.Officers recovered over 140 such packages. The total weight has not yet been confirmed but police say it is many hundreds of pounds and was believed destined for the streets of Anguilla, not just in transit.

Police believe that this cannabis was to fill the void caused by recent activities of the Drug and Gun Taskforce which has led to the discovery of over 1000 plants in over 20 separate plantations in Anguilla in the last few weeks. With high street values of over $1500 US a pound, the find could well be the largest ever of cannabis in Anguilla.
Police at once launched an investigation into both the drugs importation and, for the first time in Anguilla, the criminal proceeds of the offenders. Supt. Rudolph Proctor stated, “We need to be clear that this kind of crime will not be tolerated in our island and that those guilty of such matters can expect to be punished by imprisonment and loss of their assets”.

At around 10 pm last night a large team of CID, Police financial investigators and task force officers executed a warrant at a Rey Hill house. A 47-year old man was arrested and is currently in police custody while enquiries continue.

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