One of the two traffickers unloading cannabis on Cap Macré beach on 18 April 2018 was arrested immediately.[1] The suspect was arrested as he hid near the beach and placed in police custody.[1] The arrested man, originally from Barbados, was tried in immediate proceedings before the Fort-de-France criminal court on 20 April 2018 and sentenced to four years in prison with a ten-year territorial ban and confiscation of the seals.[1] He had been prosecuted for drug trafficking and criminal association and was convicted of trafficking with a ten-year territorial ban.[2]
At about 9:50 on 18 April the Le Marin gendarmerie was alerted that two individuals were unloading suspect bales on a beach at Cap Macré.[1] A dog-team search found 13 bales holding a total of 243 kg of cannabis herb, which had to be winched by helicopter to the Le Marin company barracks.[1] Le Marin patrols and the Saint-Nazaire mobile gendarmerie squadron deployed with support from the nautical brigade, the gendarmerie helicopter and two dog teams.[1]
The man had left his island for Saint Vincent early that week to collect a cannabis cargo meant to return to Barbados by yole, but he and his accomplice met bad weather and lost their way.[2] He told the court he had taken part in the run to pay for care for his seriously ill mother after leaving prison.[2] The cannabis bales were destroyed, while the engine of the yole used for the transport was seized and confiscated.[1]
An earlier local account reported about 230 kg of cannabis herb seized by gendarmes at Cap Macré in Le Marin, saying the bales were buried.[3] The second man was still being sought, with the Fort-de-France research section leading the investigation.[1]