RMPS with Mounts Bay discovery, but premature revelation destroy marijuana fields
Photo of drug field at Dick Hill
RFA Mounts Bay
There have been at least two occasions as recent as May this year the Royal Montserrat Police Service (RMPS) reported hauls of, and convictions for possession of cannabis sativa (marijuana) in different locations of Montserrat.
Prior to that and since they RMPS has been involved in the destruction of fields of marijuana plants also in various locations on the Island. Often these fields have been sought out by helicopter from visiting UK RFA navy ships.
Often reports of these activities come after the police have carried out surveillance in an attempt at discovering who the owners are of the productions, even after the ships’ captain had revealed their find to the relevant officials and the press on island.
Mounts Bay helicopter
But over the past weekend following the visit of the RFA Mounts Bay between August 7-10, a reconnaissance mission by a Wildcat (helicopter) crew during the visit of the Naval support ship, carried out over the tiny island, found nine suspected illegal drugs plantations on the island. Such reconnaissance have taken place before with finds in other areas such as duck pond and other areas on the unoccupied eastern side of the island.
C O, Captain Chris Clarke
The Watch British Forces News reported this news on the Forces Network on August 8.
This particular plantation was situated near Dick Hill in the still-inhabited part of the island, and will now be destroyed by the authorities.
However the news of this wildcat went virtually viral to the ire of the RMPS whose acting commissioner, Deputy Charles Thompson said, “mind I was rather surprised that this information was released.”
Thompson said the untimely publication of the discovery by the RFA Mounts Bay seriously compromised their efforts.
“…it meant that as a police service we would have had to change some of our previous plans that we would have to deal with these cultivations,” he said, commenting that this is in terms of what would have transpired since that.
He reported today, that “a number of our officers were able to go into some of the areas and they were able to uproot a total of 971 plants, many of which were several feet tall,” adding specifically that, “from the posting of RFA Mounts Bay story, there was a picture of a cultivation,” which he said, “was one of the cultivations that we would have uprooted today.”
Deputy Commissioner of Police Charles Thompson
The Ag. Commissioner said: “I think the fact that information was released into the public domain rather prematurely, placed a significant amount of risks not only to the police officers who are going out there to address these illegal activities…” But he added that the RMPS will take measures to avoid a recurrence, considering that communication is, “mainly done through the Governor’s Office with the RFA Mounts.”
“Clearly there has to be some discussions with the Office of the Governor because it is through that channel,” Thomson said, noting, “information would have already been communicated to the appropriate persons so that they see that we are seeking that no further reoccurrence of this takes place.”
On Labour Day, May 1, 2017 during the annual clean up exercise a total of 52 marijuana plants were discovered in the Davy Hill district. The plants were approximately 7’’ inches tall. No one was arrested in connection of the findings.
This caused Acting Commissioner Charles Thompson to encourage other members of the public to step forward and continue to provide officers with information, “as together we can make a difference.” The said plants recovered were to be destroyed in the presence of a Magistrate at a later date.
Following that, on May 10, 2017Acting Commissioner Charles Thompson has confirmed that RMPS officers recorded another successful drug eradication mountain patrol in the Barzeys area. Officers uprooted two fields – first consisting of 1125 Marijuana plants ranging from a few inches to as tall as seven feet; while the second field produced 314 plants.
The RMPS commended the effort because the Community and the Police by identifying criminal activities and seeking the assistance of the Police Department in addressing criminal activities. This time the said plants were destroyed on site due to the terrain.
During the previous visit of an RFA navy ship, the captain had made a similar reporting of sites of cultivated fields in Centre Hills which the police had eventually destroyed.
