Close to 100 officers swooped on a house along a dirt track in Mitchell Town, Clarendon, on the morning of 18 February 2007 and confiscated 5,000 pounds (about 2.3 tonnes) of compressed ganja, which the authorities valued at J$8 million.[1] The ganja, neatly compressed, wrapped in masking tape and packed in chicken-feed bags, lay in the backyard guarded by two tied dogs.[1]

Police arrested Courtney Small, a 37-year-old taxi operator from Mitchell Town, and charged him with possession of ganja, dealing in ganja and preparing the drug for export; a woman at the house whose name was withheld was detained for questioning.[1] Officers said they believed the ganja was destined for Haiti as part of a drugs-for-guns trade, pointing to a container of gasoline at the scene and intelligence suggesting a boat would move the drug.[1] The narcotics police and Operation Kingfish were to work with the Clarendon police on the investigation, and officers said they wanted to trace people whose names and codes were written on the bags.[1]