Philipsburg:--- On Wednesday May 19th and Thursday May 20th during the evening and night hours general controls were held by the members of the Zero Tolerance team, Immigration the police Department assisted by members of the VKS. Several "hot spots" in the areas of L.B. Scot road, St Peters, Dutch Quarter, Middle Region, Cole Bay and Simpson bay were controlled by the officers. During these controls several persons were arrested and brought in for questioning for different violations, such as the possession of marijuana and not adhering to the identification laws etc.
During a control on Back street in the vicinity of DVD-PLUS a group of youngsters were spotted. Knowing this area to be one of the hot spots the officers proceeded to carry-out a general control. One young man in the group when noticed what was going on dropped a small white plastic container and tried to kick it under a parked car. However one of the officers picked-up the container and while checking it he noticed that it contained a large amount of cocaine rocks. The plastic container and its contents were confiscated for further investigation. The suspect with initials R.G. from Sint Maarten was arrested on the spot, taken to the police station and handed over the detectives of the Drugs and Fire Arms Department.
Police also intervened in a major school fight on Friday May 22. According to police spokesman Ricardo Henson, police dispatched seven police cars to the St. Maarten Academy (PSVE) where a major fight was taking place between rival groups of students attending that school.
On the arrival of the patrols the situation seemed to be partially under control by security and teachers. Several of the students involved in the fight had been taken to the main office awaiting the arrival of the police. A total of nine students were taken to the Philipsburg police station to sort out the matter. Many of the students behaved quite uncooperative and rude towards the police. However, they were severely reprimanded in the presence of their parent(s) or guardian(s). The cause of the physical confrontation is still unclear.