Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office at the U.S. Embassy assisted the Trinidad and Tobago Transnational Organized Crime Unit (TOCU) in an investigation which culminated in the September 26 arrest of Shurlan Guppy, who is charged with trafficking heroin and cocaine valued at US$1 million to the United States. He is charged in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and will be extradited to Pennsylvania to face charges. During the early morning execution of the arrest warrant, agents found a firearm and one kilogram of cocaine in the suspect’s residence.
The U.S. Embassy’s DEA Office personnel and TOCU have been working side by side for almost 20 years.
U.S. Ambassador Candace Bond said of the arrest, “I am proud of the painstaking work the U.S. Embassy’s DEA agents do every single day to help end drug trafficking and to strengthen citizen security for the people of Trinidad and Tobago. DEA agents working closely with members of Trinidad and Tobago law enforcement act as a force multiplier. This arrest, following months of investigation and close collaboration between DEA, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and Trinidad and Tobago’s TOCU, is another sterling example of our close partnership, and yet more evidence that the United States is Trinidad and Tobago’s most reliable friend and partner in the world.”
Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds said, “U.S. DEA agents in Philadelphia and at the U.S. Embassy started working on this case with us in 2020, culminating in this major arrest and extradition order. I am gratified that our excellent cooperation has led to this arrest. We count on our American partners in law enforcement to assist us in making Trinidad and Tobago safer for our communities.”