By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

POLICE arrested three Bahamian men in the Ragged Island chain after they found $3m worth of suspected marijuana aboard their boat.

According to police, around 9.30am on Wednesday, while on routine air patrol the US Coast Guard observed a speed boat travelling north of the Windward Passage in the southern Bahamas with three men on board.

This aroused the officers’ suspicion and as a result, the Drug Enforcement Unit, OPBAT, US Coast Guard, Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs Border Protection, Air Marine Operation and the Police Marine Support Unit mounted an operation.

The US Coast Guard maintained aerial surveillance of the vessel while they vectored in the Marine Support Unit. Sometime around 5.30pm, officers from the Marine Support Unit intercepted the suspect vessel, boarded the craft and conducted a field search.

During the search the officers found 53 white sacks and 55 brown single packages.

“A search of the contents revealed a grassy substance suspected to be marijuana,” police said. “As a result, the officers arrested three Bahamian males aged 63, 52 and 41, for possession of dangerous drugs and other related offences.”

Police said the total weight of the drugs is 3,000lbs with an estimated street value of $3m.

Asked if the boat was on its way to another country, Superintendent Audley Peters told reporters it is early in the investigation, so he could not say. “We had to act because it was in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and being so, we must do the best that we can to ensure wherever they were headed they didn’t get there,” the police press liaison officer said.

The arrests and drug seizure comes after another recent discovery of a large quantity of suspected drugs. Police seized $2m worth of cocaine during a joint operation in Abaco on Tuesday.

Asked about these significant drug seizures, Supt Peters said: “It is a trend at the moment - issue of supply and demand. However, the partners in this jurisdiction are working feverishly using all our resources to intercept the persons whether they be international, whether they be local. We’re putting our best foot forward in relation to the issue of dangerous drugs within our communities.”