Cops nab a number of drug users but few suppliers

| 23/10/2009

(CNS): Police said on Thursday that as a result of proactive stop checks which have been increased in light of the recent rise in crime they have made around 16 drug arrests over the past few days. However, only two of the arrests were related to supplying drugs. On 21 October, three men were arrested on suspicion of possession and consumption of ganja and in the early hours of Thursday morning two women and one man were also arrested for possession and consumption of ganja. Investigations continue and the suspects remain in custody at this time.

On 16 October, police said four men were arrested for suspicion of consumption of ganja and another three for suspicion of possession and consumption of ganja. The following night, 17 October, three more arrests, one man for possession of ganja, and the other two, one man and one woman, for suspicion of possession with intent to supply.

Anyone with information of crime taking place can pass it on to police in a number of ways; people can speak with an officer they know and trust, they can reach George Town detectives on 949-4222, they can leave information on an anonymous voicemail service by calling 949-7777 or they can call Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling Crime Stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Category: Local News

About the Author ()

Comments (13)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. what says:

    What is the actual crime in smoking Ganja.  I forget.

    O yah.   No duty paid.

  2. Anonymous says:

    The police should get busy and not trying to look busy,,,Where are the 15 KNOWN gun men that the Chief spoke about at last month’s Chamber’s luncheon.

  3. what a mess! says:

    Legalize ganja already!

    I totally agree…the Police need to STOP this foolishness of targeting people for small amounts of ganja. At most issue a small collectable fine and concentrate on REAL crime. Alcohol and cigarettes cause far more damage (and high fat fast foods) yet Govt. does nothing about any of that. Just look at the delay again with the new Smoking legislation.

    And stop with the silly roadblocks! Traffic Dept. needs to issue tickets for careless driving (failing to signal at roundabouts, talking/texting on cellphones and driving with unsecured children)…and the Police can start this by being the example…i can’t count how many ties i see Police failing to signal and talking on their cellphones whilst driving.

    Leave ganja alone…and deal with the REAL CRIME!!

  4. Anonymous says:

    Legalize it then tax it. That should help the governments coffers.

  5. da wa ya get says:

    I hope CNS posts this…

    During one of those drug busts yesterday the police proceeded to search and adjacent property without just cause and attempted to frame an innocent person for possesion of marijuana by putting drugs where there was none before! When confronted they tried to deny it but eventually backed down when they realised that my cousin was not backing down and then they said they would disregard that "evidence".

    I would report this myself but I can’t because I wasn’t there myself, and I know my cousin will not report it for fear of retribution. My cousin used to be a drug user but he has turned his life around and stopped using over a year ago. The police, however, continue to target him and have now tried to frame him. How can someone change their life for the better when the police continually target them without reason?

    Those are the corrupt police that Bridger should have been investigating. Those are the expat police that don’t deserve to be within our police service.

    • Anonymous says:

      Like you, I know someone who got into minor troubles with the police in his teens and early 20’s but grew out of it and has been in no further trouble since.  He is now almost 30 and still being plagued, stopped and searched and generally victimised for his past actions, and accused of stuff he never did and never would do, e.g. thieving.

      I am really sorry to hear what happened to your cousin.  If this really did happen its absolutely disgusting and should be investigated internally.

      I would also like to lend my support to all of the other comments in here thus far…. I’d rather see our police resources going for the real criminals with guns and hard drugs than looking up the "easy pickings" to boost their arrest statistics.

      • da wa ya get says:

        Thank you for your support.

        I really would like to report it so that it could be investigated internally, but since I wasn’t there myself the police will tell me that it is third-party information.

    • Anonymous says:

      Nothing new regarding the Police "bringing evidence" to a search-raid etc. here or other parts of the World. Furthermore and just as unfortunately they never get the big wigs either, why? Some of the Cops and other high up Officials are on their payroll, nothing new with that either and again not just here in Cayman. I however must agree with the other writer, Bridger, Jack XXX and his other sleeping beauties should have checked some of these issues, but then again they would have got a few of their own kind (not meaning expats)!

    • Makam says:

      Yeah and my cousintold me that his cousin told him that he had been abducted by little green men and forced to smoke some weed just before he was stopped by the police (who were friends of the little green men) Yep it true

  6. Dan Dan says:

    Yes hopeful I do….they need to catch the ganga smokers because that is the easiet thing (dare say only thing) they know how to do (other than issue traffic tickets of course).

    If they focused that same money it would take to arrest, process, take to court and sentence one (1) ganga smoker on trying to snag the dealer who is supplying hundreds I dare say it makes too much sense for them to pursue it, lol.

    I’m sure the officres of the RCIPS are aware of the number of ganga smokers on island and if they’re not let me break it down for you boys…of the 50or so thousand people on Island I am positive that at least half of those people are regular smokers (which includes quite a bit of Cayman’s working population – expat and local) and a major percentage are social smokers (again expat and locals).

    So if you are trying to put away all of the smokers you need to build a prison the size of Ritz Carlton to accommodate them all.

    Don’t fool yourself about Ganga, everywhere in the world scientists are realizing that the benefits of Cannabis outweigh the only side effect that they can prove Ganga contributes to – short term memory loss.

    I think only idiots would place more importance on a ganga smoker than trying to find a murderer and in Cayman the little weed smokers are checking into Central every minute and the one or two killers are out on the street enjoying their freedom and guns, lol. Oh the uselessness of our force!

    I’m not saying you should not penalize people that break the law (as Marijuana is still illegal) but common sense should play a role in policing as far as I’m concerned.

    Drop a fine on the Ganga smokers and then get back to the real police work (not traffic offenses either) find the robbers, murderers, abusers, child molesters get those a$$holes off the street first and then when major crime has dropped by at least 75% then you can chase the weed smokers all over George Town if you want to.

    Mr. Baines- I implore you to focus your efforts on the task at hand which is to make Cayman safe again (at least try to make it a little better). If you use up all of the RCIP budget on Traffic offenses and ganga smokers where are you going to get the money to make sure that the killers that you do eventually nab make it to court and actually get sentenced for a crime?

    • hopefull says:

      Thank you for your honest and helpfull reply.  Thank you for also for bringing to light the large percentage of people(Caymanian and expat) who smoke this herb that does less damage than alcohol or tobacco or even suger for that matter.  My next question is If such a large percentage of the worlds population realizes the positive effects and the almost no negative effects other then its illegal.  Why is it still illegal??  Over eating is Killing more people here but can you even imagine makeing any food with too much fat in it illegal.  Is it really all about the duty (tax) that would be lost from alcohol?

      Any helpfull comments are wellcome.  If I’m wrong I would like to know how everyone else thinks this is wrong.  Thanks

    • kd says:

       Amen. Agree with you completely. 

  7. hopefull says:

    If you arressted everyone who smokes Ganja in Grand Cayman and I mean everyone ( even in Goverment) what would happen?

    If you stopped arresting anyone for smoking Ganja in Grand Cayman would it be noticed? (except for the more room at northside and all the money saved that could go toward the more serious crime and maybe more regular folks trusting the cops and lots more tourist and less drunk drivers I mean)  Something to think about.   I know Goverment would be pissed at the loss of revenue from alcohol but if you put the same tax ( I mean duty) on Jamaican Ganja you would make more.

    Just a thought.

    Any comments for me?