2.5 tonnes of cannabis seized in Caribbean Trigger VII operation
Operation Trigger VII, a joint INTERPOL and CARICOM IMPACS firearms operation across 19 Caribbean countries on 24-30 September 2022, seized 2.5 tonnes of cannabis and led to 510 arrests. Strands included 500 kg seized in Jamaica, 1.8 tonnes and 17 arrests in Curaçao, and 3,664 cannabis plants destroyed in Barbados.
🇧🇧 Caribbean, 19 countries (operational hub in Barbados) · Barbados
Operation Trigger VII ran from 24 to 30 September 2022 with officers from 19
countries taking part.[1][2]Police made a total of 510 arrests during the
week-long operation, including a murder suspect wanted under an INTERPOL Red
Notice.[1][2]CARICOM IMPACS hosted the operational hub in Barbados with officers
from INTERPOL, the Joint Regional Communications Center, the United States
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and United States Homeland
Security Investigations.[1][2]
The operation seized10.1 tonnes of cocaine and 2.5 tonnes of cannabis.[1][2]In
Jamaica, authorities intercepted 500.2 kg of cocaine bound for Canada on a
private jet and separately seized 500 kg of cannabis.[1][2]In Curaçao, the Coast
Guard stopped vessels carrying a total of 3 tonnes of cocaine and 1.8 tonnes of
cannabis.[1][2]Authorities made 17 arrests in connection with the Curaçao
shipments, which were believed to have originated in Venezuela.[1][2]In
Barbados, authorities destroyed 3,664 cannabis plants.[1]
The joint INTERPOL and CARICOM IMPACS firearms operation seized about 350
weapons and 3,300 rounds of ammunition across the Caribbean.[1][2]Several
countries reported reverse trafficking of cannabis from Canada and the United
States into the Caribbean region.[1][2]
Photos and video
The Curacao Coast Guard interception of 3 tonnes of cocaine and 1.8 tonnes of cannabis during Operation Trigger VII.Photo details
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Source: INTERPOLCannabis plants destroyed by authorities in Barbados during Operation Trigger VII.Photo details
INTERPOLinterpol.intHundreds of firearms and 12.6 tonnes of drugs seized in Caribbean operation
ICEice.govHSI efforts in joint international operation contribute to hundreds of firearms, tons of drugs seized in Caribbean
Open questions the AI reported
The incident date uses the operation end date of 30 September 2022; the source was published on 13 October 2022.
The 510 arrests cover the whole firearms operation and are not a cannabis-only count; no cannabis-specific arrest total was given.
The 17 Curacao arrests concern mixed cocaine and cannabis shipments and cannot be separated into a cannabis-only figure.
Cocaine amounts, including 10.1 tonnes overall, 500.2 kg in Jamaica, 3 tonnes in Curacao and nearly 4 tonnes near Bonaire, are non-cannabis amounts excluded from cannabis figures.
No names, charges or court outcomes were reported for those arrested.
No cannabis-only weight for the Barbados plants and no cannabis value were published.
Only the INTERPOL account could be opened; no second independent account of this operation was found.
The ICE account does not mention the 3,664 cannabis plants destroyed in Barbados, leaving that figure supported only by the INTERPOL account.
Natalie Jacinta Boyce, 43, pleaded not guilty in the District ‘B’ Magistrates’ Court to four cannabis charges involving about 15.2 kg of suspected cannabis. She was granted $45,000 bail and ordered to return to court on 23 February 2027.
Barbadian police raided a stash house on 2 August 2022 and seized 481 kg of marijuana valued by Trinidad and Tobago police at TT$72,063,420, arresting a Colombian national. The raid followed a joint two-year surveillance operation after a suspected Central Trinidad trafficker and another man flew to Barbados and a drug shipment landed on 29 July.
The Barbados Coast Guard said its patrols took 5,895 pounds (about 2.67 tonnes) of marijuana from the sea between 1 January and 13 October 2021, an 11 per cent rise on 2020. Twenty-eight non-nationals and seven Barbadian nationals were arrested over the maritime drug offences, alongside nine vessels.
Barbados officers searched the Guyana vessel Lady Sandra at Bridgetown Port on 10 September 2015 and seized 2 kg of cannabis along with 14.5 kg of cocaine. Two Guyanese crew members were arrested and jointly charged with eight cannabis and cocaine offences.
