PARAMARIBO – Officials recently announced that 9 suspects have been arrested over the discovery of an illegal airstrip and a semi-submersible in the vicinity of Witagron.

Last Monday two Surinamese Brothers were arrested in Paramaribo. One of the brothers who owns the concession where the airstrip and the semi-sub were discovered. The owner of the concession was in possession of an illegal gun at the time of his arrest. When police officers searched his house they found fourteen barrels of fuel for planes, and illegal AR-15, a huge amount of ammunition and several rolls of fiberglass that were used for the construction of the semi-sub. Each barrel contained 200 liters of fuel.
On February 15th, the police came across 8 barrels of fuel and several weapons in the vicinity of the illegal airstrip. A Venezuelan man who had been involved in the construction of the semi-sub and who was hiding in the forest was also taken into police custody. A joint team that consisted of officers from the Judicial Intervention Team and the National Security Directorate (DNV) came across the illegal airstrip, camps, fifteen thousand liters of diesel, weapons, ammunition, huge amounts of money and several vehicles during a special operation that was carried out on February 12th. A self propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) that was still under construction and that would be able to transport more than 10 tons of cocaïne was also found near the illegal airstrip. Three Colombiaans and three Surinamese nationals were arrested on site. An unspecified number of armed Colombians fled into the forest when they spotted the joint team.