Fabian Ledgister, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

The Police netted the decade's largest ganja find in a joint operation between narcotics police and Operation Kingfish on Friday.

Police say, at about 6:00 p.m., an intelligence-led operation was conducted at 18 Bay Farm road. Two houses on the premises were searched, where about 3,380 kilograms (7,436 pounds) of compressed and packaged marijuana was seized.

This makes the second massive marijuana seizure in a week, coming after Tuesday's huge find of 2,677 kilograms (5,890 pounds) of ganja, that police then described as "the largest single find over the past decade."

Oongoing crackdown

A man, said to be related to the main suspect behind the find, was taken into custody. Up to press time, however, he had not been arrested, or slapped with any formal charges, said head of the narcotic division, Senior Superinten-dent of Police (SSP) Carlton Wilson.

The street value of this latest find would have been worth about $53 million. Combined, the two drug busts would amount to 13,326 pounds of ganja. Police say these finds are indications of an ongoing 'crackdown' on the marijuana trade.

"We were in Portland Cottage two nights ago (Wednesday), in Old Harbour last night (Thursday), and we are monitoring all the ganja- growing parishes, because one parish could not have grown all this (latest bust) ganja," said Inspector Steve Brown of Kingfish.

Unidentified pills

Other than the 169 boxes of ganja, and items used to package the substance (boxes, masking tape, rope, etc.), unidentified pills were also seized in the find.

"Pharmaceuticals were also found in one room ... these will be carried to the lab (narcotics division), where they will be tested to see what they are," said SSP Wilson.

The Jamaica Defence Force was also on the scene to assist police in removing the massive find, and to secure the area.

The nation's largest drug find was back in 1996, when police seized over 9,000 kilogrammes (20,000 pounds) of ganja in Clarendon.