Eight persons have so far been questioned about the 146.9 pound cocaine bust at the Cheddi Jagan Airport, as the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) continues its investigations.
The cocaine was about to be loaded onto an Amsterdam bound KLM flight when the bust was made.
On the sidelines of an event today, the Director of CANU, James Singh told reporters that the agency is working with its local and international partners to probe the large cocaine bust.
At the time of drug bust on September 20, one suspect was taken into custody. However, that person was released after 72 hours elapsed. The cocaine was found in 53 plastic wrapped parcels stashed at the bottom of a unit load device, which is used to load cargo and luggage onto an aircraft.
“We have an idea who is behind this, the difference is – that’s intelligence, that’s information. To put that to court now that is where the hard work is, and I am saying this because the public needs to be aware that when we seize drugs and we arrest someone, persons have to be able to give evidence and that’s the only way going forward. So, often times, it may take a little longer,” Singh said.
So far for 2025, CANU has seized 112 kilograms of cocaine and 1,500 kilograms of marijuana. According to the CANU Director, the majority of the cocaine is coming from neighbouring Venezuela.
“Like the police force our job is to stop the flow of drugs coming into Guyana, and at times, we would have held foreign nationals with large quantities of cocaine and persecuted them. I am not going to label them and say all of the Venezuelans or all the members from another territory are involved in drugs but what I will say is that the drugs are coming from Venezuela into Guyana,” he said.
Acknowledging that the country has porous borders, the CANU Director said the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Police Force, with the backing of the country’s international partners are working to strengthen border security. He said while CANU has made a number of major drug busts, it is important to prevent the flow of drugs.
“For CANU, our mandate is to stop the flow of narcotics, and I would have said this before, standing on 4.4 tons is not a success. We found it, but it should not have arrived in the first place. So, we have to put up, and we continue to work on putting up a strong deterrence that Guyana will not allow the flow of drugs in the country and that’s we are working with our international partners,” he said.
Guyana is seen as a transshipment point for cocaine and other illicit drugs, and CANU has been teaming up with its local and international counterparts to combat the drug trafficking.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login