A multinational squad from the Barbados-based Regional Security System (RSS) destroyed an estimated 870,161 marijuana plants, three bags of compressed marijuana and 111 shacks across St Vincent and the Grenadines during a week of eradication exercises.[1][2]
The RSS officers were in St Vincent for the practical part of a training course begun at the RSS base in Barbados, with police officers from seven countries taking part in the programme from 2 July to 21 September.[2] Commissioner Keith Miller of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force said St Vincent was chosen for its hilly terrain, and wished more damage had been inflicted on the trade.[1]
No area was spared, from the Windward side to Lowmans Hill near Kingstown and the Northern Hills below the Soufriere volcano, where Searchlight reporters saw trampled seedlings and older plants chopped down and burned.[1] Farmers of the crop averaged about two acres with plots of varying sizes, and one told Searchlight he had already invested over $10,000 in the crop he would now lose.[1]
Why it mattered
Assistant staff officer ASP Glen Paul said the officers destroyed the plants over a five-day period in the mountains and could not have succeeded without the cooperation of Vincentians.[2] The results were announced at the course’s closing ceremony at the Old Montrose police station, where the day belonged to best student PC Ralston Farley of the Royal Barbados Police Force.[2]