Ranks of the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) yesterday morning nabbed two Jamaica-bound passengers at the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport with cocaine stuffed in the soles of several pairs of shoes.
The man and woman were on their way to Jamaica via Barbados on a Caribbean Airlines flight, CA 484.
According to a CANU official, the male was an outgoing passenger on the flight around 4.45 am when CANU ranks conducted a search of his checked luggage and found 281 grammes of cocaine.
The official said the man had three pairs of sneakers in his suitcase and cocaine was found wrapped in red plastic and concealed in the soles of one pair. The man was detained and questioned.
Around the same time, the female passenger was nabbed with 1 kilogramme 350 grammes of cocaine, some of which was concealed in the soles of a pair of sneakers she was wearing and the remainder in two other pairs of footwear – another pair of sneakers and a pair of slip-ons – that was in her checked luggage.
CANU ranks, acting on information following this find, raided a house on the East Coast Demerara where they discovered materials used to make false suitcase bottoms as well as a mattress suspected to be used for the concealment of cocaine and other illegal items.
CANU said the woman, who was also booked to leave on the flight to Jamaica, was found with the drugs after a short period of interrogation by ranks, which led to a subsequent search of her person and her luggage. According to an official, the woman was stopped by ranks and following her apparent uncertain responses to queries, a complete search was ordered.
Stabroek News understands that she told officials that she was on her way to see her boyfriend. However, according to reports, the woman had previous brushes with the law.
As both mules used the same method of concealment, officers were up to late yesterday trying to ascertain whether the two cases were linked.
As regards the search on the East Coast Demerara, CANU said it was monitoring the frequency at which drug mules were using false suitcase bottoms to smuggle the illegal substance out of the country.
Officials said while there was nothing illegal about the material found at the East Coast premises, it could provide the lead to uncovering a suspected drug ring where persons would use false suitcase bottoms to ship drugs. No one was arrested at the East Coast house, but arrests could be made soon, one CANU official said.
Among the items found were one laminator, paste, and fibreglass as well as what appeared to be a false suitcase bottom.
Drug mules continue to use several innovative methods to traffic the prohibited substance. In the past, mules were found with cocaine in cabbages, body lotions, molasses, pepper sauce, timber and rum.
