Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

Eight pounds of cocaine and more than 150 pounds of compressed ganja that were destined for the United States and Curaçao were intercepted Thursday at the island's two international airports by narcotics detectives.

The police have linked an employee at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay to the ganja which was found in a tractor parked inside the airport, Thursday morning.

Reports are that the 151 rectangular-shaped parcels of compressed ganja were found in two carton boxes, which were destined for Curaçao.

In a third incident, a Jamaican national who was busted by the Ionscan machine at the Norman Manley International Airport on Wednesday was placed under police guard at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), where he was expected to pass out pellets of narcotics drug he swallowed.

"The X-ray showed that he swallowed narcotics drug," head of the Narcotics Division, Senior Superintendent Carlton Wilson, told The Gleaner on Thursday.

False compartment

Commenting on the cocaine, which has an estimated street value of over $5 million, narcotics chief said it was discovered inside the false compartment of a suitcase belonging to 24-year-old fisherman, Richard Morgan, of an Australia Road, Kingston 11 address.

"He was held while in the process of boarding an Air Jamaica flight to New York. His luggage was searched and cocaine found," said SSP Wilson.

With new security measures implemented at the island's ports of entry, the officer said drug dealers are using every available method to export illegal drugs.

"They are now targeting patties, using ganja and hoping it passes off as vegetable patties," Mr. Wilson explained.

While there has been a lull in cocaine seizures, the officer said that, since January, the police have seized more than 20,000 pounds of compressed ganja, which is almost twice the amount they seized for all of 2005.