The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police have made what is being described as a major drug bust in Providenciales, after a suspicious-looking car that they were chasing crashed along Tom Lightbourne Drive in Millennium Heights late Monday morning.
A police source told NewslineTCI that approximately 40 pounds of marijuana sealed in packages were taken from the vehicle.
According to the source, authorities including members of the TCI Regiment, the Immigration Department and members of the Police Force were combing the area after it was reported that a sloop from Haiti landed Sunday Night into Monday morning, with an unspecified number of persons.
It is alleged that persons appeared to be those fresh off the boat were spotted in the Northwest Point/Wheeland area.
The source said members of the law enforcers, while in the area, saw a white Suzuki Swift motor car, with the four men on board acting suspiciously.
When the lawmen attempted to carry out a check on the vehicle, the driver sped away, and a chase ensued.
On reaching a section of the Tom Lightbourne Drive, the driver lost control of the small car, which flipped and crashed. Two of the occupants managed to alight from the vehicle and flee before the authorities could apprehend them.
The other two occupants sustained injuries and the ambulance was called to get them medical treatment. It is not clear what level of injuries they sustained.
The police were not committed to say whether or not the drug came off the sloop but were not ruling it out. The source said one of the primary modes of guns and drugs coming into the Turks and Caicos is through the sloops coming out of Haiti.
The source said the police have, in the past, confiscated drugs and firearms off those boats.