Two Guyanese sailors on a BK International ship delivering rice in Jamaica were on Tuesday morning busted with J$32M (US$536,000) worth of compressed ganja.
The two Guyanese, Reuben Reagan Rodney and Vernon Mc Garrell appeared in the Half Way Tree Magistrate’s Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to four charges.
They will know their fates on February 19. The men were charged with possession, taking steps to export and dealing and trafficking in ganja after Marine Police boarded the 250-foot Guyanese ship MV Alexis T, which was delivering a shipment of rice from Guyana at the Flour Mills terminal in Rockfort, East Kingston.
Rodney and McGarrell were found in their cabins, each with three bags containing a total of 335-pounds of compressed ganja, reports out of Kingston said. The vessel was scheduled to depart for Trinidad. The captain of the vessel, which is owned by BK Marine International of Guyana, told a Jamaica Gleaner reporter that the incident was the first of its kind in his five years at the company.
Contacted yesterday, Neville Kissoon, Public Relations Officer of BK. International said that the company was not ready to comment on the matter.
He said that the managing director is still assessing the situation. Meanwhile, the wife of one of the Guyanese crew members on the ship told Stabroek News yesterday that after hearing the reports she visited the company and sought clarifications as to whether her husband was involved. The woman said an official told her that they were yet to ascertain the names of the persons who were found with the ganja.
A report in yesterday’s Gleaner said that Marine police seized the shipment and it was the second such incident within a week.
According to the Gleaner, the police were carrying out a routine patrol and boarded the 250-foot Guyanese ship between 11:30 am and midday on Tuesday when they discovered the contraband. The vessel was delivering a shipment of rice from Guyana at the Flour Mills terminal in Rockfort, East Kingston, after which it would depart for Trinidad, the Gleaner report said.
The newspaper added that the two Guyanese crew members were arrested, after both of them were found with three bags estimated to contain 335 pounds of compressed ganja. Both were served with four charges: possession, taking steps to export, dealing and trafficking, in ganja.
“Lately, we’ve been discovering that vessels leaving here for Trinidad are being targeted by persons smuggling drugs like the ganja found on the vessel behind Petrojam which was destined for Trinidad … so apparently they have ways of getting it from Trinidad to the States,” said Superintendent Marlon Dietrich of the Marine division of the Jamaica Constabu-lary Force, the Gleaner reported.
The newspaper said in the bust last week two canisters containing 300 pounds of ganja were found attached to the hull of a tanker, which was delivering crude oil from Trinidad to the Petrojam refinery on Marcus Garvey Drive. Following that bust Superintendent Dietrich, the Gleaner reported, had promised to increase coastal surveillance as traffickers, forced by tighter port and airport security, had begun returning to such traditional methods. According to Dietrich the Marine Division is becoming more successful, thanks to the provision of new boats, enabling them to check more vessels.