A Vincentian was arrested in Trinidad on Wednesday after a search of a vehicle in which he was travelling revealed 4.5 kilogrammes (9.9lbs) of cocaine, with a street value of TT$2,111,200 (approx. EC$1,055,600).
A report in the Trinidad Express Newspaper quoted police in Trinidad as saying that about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday police officers were on patrol at the CARICOM Wharf of the port of Port-of-Spain when they observed a white Toyota Corolla motor vehicle driven by the Vincentian man.
The man is said to have begun acting suspiciously when he saw the officers.
The officers search the vehicle and found a car fender, a car door, and a black box, all listed as cargo for a vessel, which was bound for St Vincent.
The officers found four packets of a white, powdery substance resembling cocaine, hidden alongside other items.
It is very deceptive when the authorities refer to the “street value” of drugs (in this case the retail street value of one rock of crack cocaine) when they confiscate produce in wholesale bulk form. The person(s) who bought this cocaine may have paid less than 20 percent of its final “street value.” There are many steps — sometimes more than a dozen — between the production of coca leaves and the consumption of crack. At each step at least 100 percent of profit is made. The same is true for marijuana.
If they were aiming at accuracy, the police would report the value at the “step” where they intercepted the drugs. But they are not interested in accuracy.
All over the world, the police use inflated and deceptive values to glorify the importance of their generally ineffective interdiction efforts — less than 10 percent of illegal drugs are ever intercepted.
so true c ben ….police magnify the value “to put a feather in their CAP “…..when they did no work to catch the prisoner
Seems we are the only one who cal it Soap powder, everywhere else call it cocaine and lock people up for position.