– pink suitcase probe ongoing
There have been no local arrests in connection with the 50lb cocaine bust in New York last week Tuesday, but investigations are continuing Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said.
Persaud confirmed yesterday that the Guyana Police Force was working with the Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU) and authorities in New York in investigating the pink suitcase with an orange ribbon which was busted with 24 kilos of cocaine at the JFK International Airport last week.
The crime chief said they are also investigating the 12.172.7 grammes cocaine bust that was made at the same airport last week Sunday.
“There have been no local arrests but we are investigating both cases,” the crime chief said yesterday.
Sources said that such a large amount of cocaine could only have passed unnoticed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport if there was an “inside connection”. Some law enforcement authorities and officials at the airport have long since been accused of working in cohort with drug traffickers.
Last week Head of CANU James Singh had revealed his unit and the police along with New York officials were investigating the 50lb bust. The suitcase was flown to New York on a Delta Airlines flight and was checked in by Dorothy Sears who has since been remanded to a New York prison.
Singh was reluctant to go into details about the joint investigation and had stated that he did not want to alert those responsible about what angle the investigation was taking, adding “we are doing a joint investigation and we would not want to tip anybody off as they may then cover their tracks.”
He had revealed that Sears was cooperating with the US authorities and so it would not just be “the person is arrested in the US and they go to jail and that is the end of it; we are investigating.”
During a customs examination of Sears’ carry-on luggage last week Tuesday she was reportedly “nervous, sweating profusely and avoiding eye contact.” She was asked if she had any checked luggage and responded in the negative. “A pat-down search was then conducted of the defendant’s person and a hard object was found concealed in the defendant’s bra. The hard object was found to be a plastic bag containing a green leafy substance,” court documents said. Faced with this discovery, which was later determined to be marijuana, Sears then admitted that she had checked-in the pink suitcase and stated that she had been instructed by an individual in Guyana not to pick up the bag.
She told US authorities that she was to be paid US$6,000 for checking in the suitcase by an individual in Guyana. She said she thought initially the suitcase had marijuana but when she received it she believed it contained cocaine because of the weight and the amount of money she was to receive.
The other case under investigation involves Rayon Jarvis who was busted on January 10, attempting to smuggle just over 12 grammes of cocaine into the US.
Jarvis had arrived at the JFK airport aboard Caribbean Airlines flight 522 from Guyana and he presented two suitcases, a black Olympia suitcase and a black Claiborne suitcase, to customs officials for inspection.
Upon inspection both suitcases were found to contain cocaine amounting to just over 12 grammes of cocaine.