Operation Vincy Pac, a two-week anti-crime operation involving hundreds of personnel from the seven Regional Security System member countries plus Trinidad and Tobago, destroyed more than 8.5 million marijuana plants, including 7.3 million seedlings, in the mountains of St Vincent.[1] Thirty people were arrested, and 12 firearms with 395 rounds of ammunition were recovered.[1]
Three men were killed during the operation. Barbadian Dwayne O’Brian was shot dead in Vermont on 21 May after shots were fired at police approaching the area where he was believed to be, and two Vincentian nationals also died in the alleged gun battle.[2]
The operation began at 4am on Monday 18 May with the stated aims of capturing foreign fugitives, recovering illegal firearms and eradicating marijuana plantations.[3] By 29 May six foreign nationals were in custody, including a Jamaican who had overstayed his visa, two Barbadians wanted in their homeland over drugs and murder, a Grenadian wanted for rape and two St Lucians who had entered illegally.[2]
Why it mattered
Commissioner Keith Miller said fugitives met in the mountains were found cultivating marijuana or among its cultivators, and that the success of the operation would restore tranquillity for Vincentians.[3] Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, after a 21 May helicopter tour over burning plants and destroyed shanties, said most growers were part of larger criminal enterprises and announced a funded alternative-livelihood project for young men leaving the trade.[2] RSS coordinator Grantley Watson called it the largest operation in the RSS’s 27 years and the first joined by a non-member country.[1]