Twenty-one persons were taken into custody in Hanover on Friday in connection with lottery scamming activities within Area One.

The operation, which began about 4:30 a.m., targeted several communities in the parish. Those communities targeted included Johnson Town, Claremont, Sandy Bay, Haughton Court and Montpelier. As a result, 21 persons, including a 16-year-old student and a Trinidadian national, were arrested.

The team, through the collective effort of the Proactive Investigation Units in Area One, searched over 20 premises resulting in the seizure of five motor vehicles, several electronic devices (laptops, cellular phones) and also lottery scamming paraphernalia.

Theses series of coordinated operations were executed in an effort to curtail the benefits these unscrupulous persons obtain from scamming unsuspecting US citizens. Those arrested will be processed and formal charges laid against those found to be in breaches of the Law Reform (Fraudulent Transactions) (Special Provisions) Act.