Local Whites, Syrians in
BIG COKE WAR
... cartels fight led to $700m Monos Island drug bust

A SPITEFUL fall-out between two factions of a local drug syndicate has resulted in tit-for-tat squealing by rival factions.

That, according to a source close to both factions, is what led to Monday’s drug bust on Monos Island that netted 1.75 tonnes of pure cocaine with an estimated street value of $700 million.

A Uzi machine gun, four handguns, two assault rifles and 247 rounds of assorted ammunition were also seized in the raid on a house on the island.

The operation, which was spearheaded by the Coast Guard, also included officers from the Police Western Division, with intelligence support from the Special Anti-Crime Unit of TnT (SAUTT) and later involvement of the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit (OCNU).

Two Trinidadians, five Venezuelans and an Antiguan were arrested at the house, owned by a member of a prominent business family operating out of the Western Peninsula.

Four days earlier, an even bigger haul of some three tonnes of cocaine was intercepted on a boat off Venezuelan waters in a joint operation between the Venezuelan Coast Guard and the French Navy.

Intelligence reports have traced the intended destination of that shipment to Trinidad.

It is believed that the intended recipient was a Syrian-controlled faction of the powerful local syndicate that is now divided.

The other faction involves a local Portuguese/French Creole bourgeois grouping of business associates.

Individuals from both factions are well-endowed in the various business organisations.

Members of this bourgeois business group allegedly controlled the drug seized on Monos.

TnT Mirror understands that the Syrian drug mafia, which is able to assuage greater sway in the government than the rival faction, was responsible for spilling the beans because it was believed that the rival faction had something to do with the Venezuelan interception of its shipment.

Mirror understands that the seizure resulted in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars by the Syrian side of the cartel. This loss led to the offended party using its political connections to have the other side of the split cartel suffer a similar fate.

Information was leaked about illegal drug trafficking taking place just a stone’s throw from the Coast Guard Headquarters, resulting in the major drug bust on Monos Island.

Monos is a luxury resort island with private holiday houses owned almost exclusively by well-known business families.

The imminent arrest of high profile persons connected to the Monos drug bust is expected to bring about major shifts in the underground illegal drug trade.

Intelligence reports suggests that the split between both groups had degenerated into a petty real estate dogfight, in which the Syrian-controlled faction was using its closeness to the government to prevent state rental of properties owned by members of the other side.

Cocaine is shipped out of Trinidad to European and North American destinations via air conditioning units, yachts, speedboats and containers.

It is sometimes routed through other Caribbean Islands on which members of the rival groups have a network of business operations.

http://www.tntmirror.com/friday/2005/aug26/story01.htm