AN EARLY-MORNING raid by heavily armed police led to the shutting down of an elaborate million-dollar illegal quarrying operation in the cleared forests of Manuel Congo, Guanapo in east Trinidad on October 9.

Police said the raid was the end result of detailed investigations and surveillance over the course of the past 12 months.

It also led to the arrest of 19 people who were caught working at the plant. Among those detained on October 9 was the owner of the quarry, who police described as a "big boss" in the illegal quarrying industry, who had for over two decades, operated illegal quarries in several parts of the country, depriving the state of hundreds of millions of dollars worth in aggregate and also being a major polluter of several rivers and water courses clogged with run-off from these quarries.