Police of the Narcotics Division have arrested and formally charged 58-year-old Colombian National
Oswaldo Aroca for drug trafficking in connection with a reported 24 million Barbados-dollar marijuana shipment seized in a raid a week ago.

The accused whose address is listed as Santa Marta, Colombia is charged with: Unlawful Possession of Cannabis, Trafficking Cannabis, Possession with Intent to Supply Cannabis, Disembarking without the consent of an Immigration Officer and Entering Barbados other than at a port of Entry.

He is scheduled to appear at the District ‘B’ Magistrates’ Court this morning.

Information first released by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and some of which was later confirmed by their Barbadian counterparts had indicated that the arrest and drug seizure occurred in Barbados on August 2nd following months of surveillance, intelligence gathering, and collaboration among regional law enforcement agencies.

According to the TTPS, in June 2020, Trinidad and Tobago police began investigations into a person of interest who was suspected of controlling a drug ring based in Central Trinidad with regional and international links.

The suspect and another man then reportedly boarded a flight to Barbados in late June this year and Barbados law enforcement was notified, and their assistance was requested.

The TTPS says they continued gathering intelligence and maintained relations with Barbados law enforcement, and as a result, discovered that on Friday 29th July a shipment of drugs landed in Barbados.

This intelligence was further developed and on August 2nd Barbados law enforcement breached the “stash house” in Barbados where they found and seized 481 kilogrammes or about half a ton of marijuana with a street value of more than 72 million TT dollars which is about 24 million dollars in Barbados currency.