THE Ministry of National Security yesterday launched an investigation into how a Trinidad and Tobago diplomatic pouch was found on the tarmac at the Miami International Airport earlier this week. The bag was reportedly addressed to a TT Consular official in Miami. Earlier this year, several staffers at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were questioned by police after a quantity of cocaine was found in diplomatic pouches destined for London, New York and Toronto.

Two persons have since been charged with that incident and Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift said security mechanisms involving TT diplomatic pouches were strengthened. Prime Minister Patrick Manning said under the former government, a diplomatic bag containing 200 blank passports went missing. Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday said an inquiry was conducted into that incident by then Foreign Affairs Minister Mervyn Assam, but he was uncertain if anything ever came out of it.

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