SAMUEL McKNIGHT Tuesday, May 11 2004

THE government of TT will address the Senate today on a quantity of cocaine seized in diplomatic pouches from a courier at the Foreign Affairs Ministry last Friday. Police believe they have busted an international drug-smuggling ring out of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and have called back three persons from different missions whose names the pouches were addressed to, and who are currently being questioned. Two persons yesterday appeared before a Port-of-Spain magistrate charged with trafficking and attempting to smuggle the drugs out of the country.

Acting on information, members of the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit  organised a sting operation at the Ministry, and as the courier handed the bags, he was arrested. The pouches were earmarked for the Trinidad and Tobago consulate in New York. Two men and one woman from diplomatic postings have been brought back and are being questioned, while diplomatic representatives in London, Canada and New York have since been notified of the intervention. Several other persons have since been recalled.

The diplomatic bags, which carry mail and important documents from country to country, pass through Customs without examination, and are only authorised to be opened by the sender and the receiver — or in a special case where a crime is detected. The cocaine weighed six pounds. When contacted Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul said he would have to be apprised of the situation before he could comment. Minister of Foreign Affairs Knowlson Gift is out of the country.