A boat with 20 packages of drugs on board was intercepted in the South West region last night. In total, nearly 33 kilos of cannabis were seized. This was a large-scale operation carried out by the police, including the coast guard but also the Special Support Unit. The packages were marked with the PSG logo. Members of the helicopter squadron were the first to spot the boat. The three occupants attempted to flee. However, they were intercepted by National Coast Guard vessels. The suspects are between 21 and 27 years old. Two of them are skippers and the third a sky-surfing instructor. They all live in the north. They declared to have collected the drugs on the island of Reunion.
Ena gardian dan sa ban sac la missie.”. These are the words of Miguel Brasse, a 27-year-old skipper, one of the three crew members of a boat that was intercepted on the high seas in the area of Pointe-Sud-Ouest in Le Morne late Thursday afternoon, March 31, to the National Coast Guard (NCG) police. Miguel Brasse, is a resident of Ex Club Med Road, Pointe aux Canonniers. Two large black bags and a blue bag were discovered in the vertical section at the back of this boat. They contained cannabis and hashish respectively, totaling 32.84 kilos. The whole is of a market value of Rs 33 million. The other two suspects arrested are Navindra Guness, a skipper from Chemin Casse Ghoon, Pointe aux Piments and Aurelien Edouard, a 21 year old skysurf instructor from Balaclava. They are both 21 years old.
It is a vast operation carried out at sea and on land with the logistical support of the police helicopter, which led to the interception of this black and gray boat bearing the number 79060L10 equipped with two black engines of the Yamaha brand. This operation started at 5 pm on Thursday 31 March. The team of the Special Cell of the Special Supporting Unit (SSU), led by the inspector, Rajcoomar Seewoo obtained precise information concerning a drug transaction at sea. A surveillance operation is mounted in the area of Cap-Malheureux and at the World by the Special Cell of the SSU. The men of the National Coast Guard (NCG) of the Port, were stationed ashore since 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 30.
As the sea was rough, the assistance of the police helicopter with officer Manish Singha at the controls was requested. It flew over the area from Pointe-Sud-Ouest to Rivière-Noire after having taken on board the NCG’s Russian inspector on the soccer field of Le Morne. The officers on board spotted a boat. This one had to increase its speed to try to escape. The helicopter flew low overhead. The Russian inspector had to communicate by radio with the NCG police officers who were on patrol at sea. A Fast Interceptor Boat and a Heavy Duty Boat intercepted the suspect boat with three crew members on board.
Two policemen had to get into this boat. The three occupants were searched, but nothing suspicious was found on them. A search was then made in this boat. In the vertical section at the back of the boat, these two officers found two large black bags and a blue bag containing a large quantity of drugs. Confronted with this discovery, Miguel Brasse declared, “ena gandia dan sa ban sac la misse. Nou ti ale pran sa la Reunion”. While his two traveling companions remained silent. Three blue plastic buckets, two filled with gasoline and one empty with a capacity of forty liters were found on board. Two other buckets of twenty liters were also seized.
The NCG took control of this boat and brought the bags of drugs to the Landing Step of the Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit (Adsu) at the Port. The first bag was opened. It contained six black plastic parcels wrapped with orange tape in which there was a total of 13.60 kilos of cannabis. In the second bag there were four parcels of cannabis, totaling 16.20. The small blue bag contained two plastic bags in which there were 3.04 kilos of cannabis and twenty pieces of hash weighing 3.04 kilos.
Once again, the three suspects were questioned about this drug, only Miguel Brasse answered, “gandia sa misse mo finn amenn sa depi la Reunion”.
The three suspects were brought before the court of Bambous this Friday, April 1. They are facing a provisional charge of drug importation.
