The clandestine laboratory, where cocaine was being converted into a liquid form to be packaged and exported, was set up opposite a primary school.

The house, perched on a hilltop overlooking the Phoenix Park Government Primary School, was locked yesterday. Neighbours refused to say what they had heard of the incident.

Two days ago, a party of the officers from the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau, led by Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert, conducted a door-to-door exercise in Couva.

The search began in Esperanza and Dow Village.

Around 3 a.m. the officers went to a house in Phoenix Park, California, where they stumbled upon the laboratory.

Investigators believe they have foiled a major drug trafficking ring in Central Trinidad with the discovery.

Five people-including three Venezuelan nationals-were arrested. The three men and two women were caught filling bottles of spray starch with the drug, police said. The drug was also being soaked in pages of a religious book and in pieces of clothing, they said.

Philbert said two pieces of cocaine were also found wrapped in black plastic. And a basin filled with liquid cocaine was found on a table.

’I have never seen so much liquid cocaine in my life. I also saw a copy of the Bhagvad Gita pages soaked and well packed, ready to be shipped abroad,’ he said. Several bottles and clothing items were seized, Philbert said.

Police believe the drug was being exported to the United Kingdom, as several invitations from residents in that country were found in the house.

Philbert said while it was not new to Trinidad, it was an innovative way of trafficking cocaine. He said liquid cocaine can be applied to fabric or paper, since it was easier to conceal the drug in that way. He said records show that more young women were being used to traffic the drug.

’It is a daring act and many of them end up in prisons in the UK and US and other countries for these nefarious crimes. So I am warning all women to take extra care,’ he said.

Philbert said security will be beefed up at the nation’s ports in the wake of the discovery. Up to late yesterday, police had not revealed the quantity or cost of the drugs seized. Investigations are continuing.