Three men arrested with more than 19 pounds of marijuana

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (AP) — Police arrested three men found with more than 19 pounds (8.5 kilograms) of marijuana and destroyed dozens of marijuana plants in separate raids throughout Grenada, police said yesterday.

In raids on several homes on Thursday, police arrested Frederick Williams, 30, Raffea Charles, 24, and Paul Campbell, 37.

Police said they raided the homes acting on “intelligence information”. but would not elaborate.

Campbell had 19 pounds (8.5 kilograms) of compressed marijuana in his possession and Williams was found with 61 wrapped packets of marijuana weighing two grams each, police said.

Charles and Williams were arrested together and Charles had one two-gram packet of the marijuana in his pocket, police said.

All three men face charges of marijuana possession; Campbell was also charged with trafficking and Williams with intent to supply the drug.

Officers also destroyed 13 marijuana plants and seized 29 wrapped packets of marijuana and one knife in St George’s, but no arrests were made. Police gave no further details on the seizures.

Cuban gov’t prepares for reduction in combustible imports

HAVANA (AP) — Headed into the hot summer months with increasing financial difficulties, Cuba said yesterday it was preparing to decrease imports of petroleum.

“For June through October it is necessary to have better control and a decrease in the import of combustibles for generation” of electricity, an article in the Communist Party daily Granma said yesterday.

The article offered no details on how much imports could be reduced. Energy use on Caribbean island spikes during the hot summer months with increased use of air conditioners and fans.

Granma said that Cuba has operated a nationwide energy conservation programme since 1997 and was now lowering prices on flashlights and other emergency lighting so people could save on electricity at home.

Although Cuba’s production of petroleum is seven times today what it was in 1991, the island only produces about 45 per cent of the crude it needs and must import the rest. Authorities here have said that for every dollar per barrel the price of petroleum rises, Cuba must spend an additional $50 million to meet its petroleum needs.

Fast boat seized that prepared to smuggle 15 to US

HAVANA (AP) — A fast boat that was to carry 15 would-be migrants — including two little girls — to the United States was seized and one of two crew members arrested, Cuba said yesterday in its first official report of any detention related to rumours of an impending exodus by sea.

The craft was detected shortly before midnight on Wednesday, at Punta Higuereta, near the shore on the island’s northern coast, said an official communique published yesterday in the Communist Party daily Granma.

One crew member, a Cuban-born man who has been living in New Jersey for two years, was arrested early Thursday near where the boat was seized, the communique said. The other crew member got away and remained at large yesterday.

The 15 people, including two girls aged three and five, were found guarding the boat. Inside the craft were food and lifejackets for numerous people, “which indicated a migrant trafficking operation”, the statement said. The group had planned to leave Cuba illegally on July 4, it added.

DES cuts electricity at government building

ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — The electrical company turned out the lights in a government building due to an unpaid Eastern Caribbean (EC) $1.8-million ($666,000) debt.

“Most government accounts have been in arrears for some time,” Gareth Doctrove, customer service manager of the Dominica Electricity Services (DES), told the Associated Press Thursday.

The utility has cut power to the three-storey Documentation Centre since Wednesday in an effort to force the government to pay its overdue bill.

Doctrove said the government bill averages EC$ 350,000 ($129,629) per month.

“We have been in communication with the minister of finance and accountant-general for sometime … to settle their outstanding debt and we have had no appropriate response from them,” Doctrove said.

“We cannot continue to carry (the government’s) debt because the cost will be passed on to all other customers,” he said.

Government officials could not be reached for comment.