Man who claimed shoe box with cannabis questioned

Customs officer with Canine during routine patrol. (Photo by Erasmus Williams)

ST. KITTS, JUNE 2, 2010 (CUOPM) – Police held a man for questioning after he turned up to claim a shoe box which contained a very small amount of cannabis.

According to Police, the Drug Unit responding to information from Her Majesty’s Customs, was shown a shoe box which contained a pair of sneakers and a Ziploc bag containing a very small quantity of vegetable material suspected to be cannabis.

The man claimed that the marijuana, found by an alert Customs Officer in the shoe box, was sent by a brother who lives overseas.

Police said the man was taken into custody and thoroughly interviewed.

Customs and Excise in St. Kitts and Nevis last month seized over 500 round of ammunition at the port. Discovery was made by the Customs K9 Unit during a routine patrol at the Deep Water Port at Bird Rock.

Border Security was beefed up recently when the Unit was established to provide greater efficiency in the processing of legitimate cargo and passengers.

“This will give the department a clear cut advantage in both identifying potential threats regarding illicit imports of firearms, ammunition and narcotics while at the same time reduce the clearance times on legitimate low risk shipments. This directly impacts our ability to achieve our mandates of Border Security and the facilitation of International Trade,” said Comptroller of Customs, Mr. Rodney Harris.

He said that the primary objective of setting up the unit is to use Drug Detector Dogs to supplement the physical checks and scanning techniques currently in use in the fight against Narcotics, Firearms and Terrorism.

Mr. Harris disclosed that two Labrador Retriever detector dogs (one narcotic & one firearm) were acquired and are currently supplementing the physical and scanning checks at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport, the Sea Ports and the Post Office.