Minister of National Security St. Clair Leacock on Thursday urged Vincentians to report any cocaine found floating at sea or on the beaches of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
His warning on state media came hours after a lawyer told a court that the police are referring to the cocaine found in these circumstances as winning the “sea lotto”.
“This case involves something that police refer to as sea lotto, which is cocaine allegedly found on the high seas,” Grant Connell told Magistrate John Ballah at the Layou Magistrate’s Court.
“It’s no secret. It is one of the many ramifications of the vessels being blown up in our waters, [and cocaine] coming to our shores falling in the hands of these fishermen,” Connell said.
He was addressing the court in the case in which two fishermen, Sebastian Audain aka Bush, 36, of Lowmans Bay and Alvin Cyrus, 36, of Largo Height, have been charged with possession and trafficking of 22.9lbs of cocaine.
Audain had pleaded guilty to the charge when he appeared before the family court on Wednesday, while his co-accused entered a not guilty plea.
However, on Thursday, Ballah vacated the guilty plea and ordered that both men be tried.
Reports reaching iWitness News suggest that the cocaine in question may have been found on the high seas, following the destruction of a “fishing boat” on Friday and another on Monday by the US military in drone strikes, which claimed several lives, including St. Lucians.
During a joint press statement on Thursday, Head of the SVG Coast Guard Service, Commander Deon Henry, confirmed that the strike took place in SVG’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Leacock expressed disappointment that Washington had yet to inform Kingstown about the military actions in SVG’s EEZ, but noted the interstate power disparity between both nations.
“We continue therefore to wait and hope that, since we are all agreed and signed on to be respecters of sovereign rights through the various international and legal arrangements and instruments at our disposal, that this matter will come to early resolution and that that degree of normalcy will return to our society,” the national security minister said.
He said that in the meantime, the Ministry of National Security, with the police force, including the Coast Guard and the auxiliaries, “who are already stretched by the impact of the narcotics trade in our parts, are asking all people to play their role and act wisely.
“If, as a fisher, or may even be a sea bather, you come upon parcels of drugs that are wide in the water or wash ashore, as quickly as you can get it to a police station or a law enforcement officer, please do so. Do not take chances with the belief that it represents a get-rich-quick opportunity. It’s not going to happen,” Leacock said.
He asked people to have confidence in the government, “to continue to maintain that we resolve that as a people, that we are entitled to a high degree and modicum of respect as a sovereign state and that as a collective who will do all our power to protect our combined interest.
“I want to thank you for listening to us and to give you the assurance that your ministry of national security working with your foreign affairs ministry and our prime minister, and through our regional arrangements network, including the OECS and that of CARICOM, and the international agencies that are at our disposal, will pursue this matter in the best interest of all Vincentians,” Leacock said.