Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur yesterday said that the container which contained timber and five bags of cocaine was cleared by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), but not by customs officers even as he vowed that an independent investigation will be conducted into the drug bust.
According to Sattaur, who did not reveal where the container of timber was packed, preliminary investigations revealed that customs officers were vigilant and diligent in the execution of their duties but the container with the cocaine was not subjected to a customs search. He stated that customs procedures in this case were well tested and questioned how the container could enter a ship when it was not booked on the shipping record.
“How did it end up there?” Sattaur asked, as, according to him, his customs officers are totally oblivious to that particular container. He quickly added though that he was not saying that the customs officers involved were exonerated, but maintained that the container was not searched by them. He called for a full scale investigation involving the police and said he would be seeking independent assistance as there is need to investigate fully everything that happened before the ship left Guyana.
On Wednesday morning, Jamaican customs authorities discovered the five bags containing 122.65 kgs of cocaine with a street value of $700 million among timber in a container on the Vega Azurit. Reports had indicated that the vessel, which left from the John Fernandes Wharf, is one that frequents Guyana almost twice weekly. The vessel had arrived in Guyana on March 11 and left the following day.
Customs officers have been responsible for incoming and outgoing vessels since Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) officers were removed from wharves some time last year. Sources had told Stabroek News that the name of the shipper and other information would not have been difficult to ascertain, since a customs officer would have had to check the container before it was sealed. One source had pointed out that the officer would have had documentation on the work he would have carried out and pointed out that the officer should have seen the bags before putting a seal on the container.
However, Sattaur is now saying that the container was not sealed by customs but rather it was cleared by the GFC. According to him, he has examined a lot of the documents that have since been forwarded to him and has detected that customs operated aboveboard on this recent incident.
He said the incident occurred outside of customs procedures and questioned why persons were pointing fingers at customs. He said he is currently investigating every aspect of customs involvement with the shipment and is going to extend the probe to include an external investigator because he wants full transparency.
“This is worrying to me. That cocaine went out on a ship which customs checked and we didn’t know about that container,” Sattaur said.
He said the police have to get involved in this case and he is not afraid to release names but it will happen after the investigation is complete. The GRA boss said they already have some information as to the wharf and the name on the ship records but he wouldn’t release this now. On Thursday, Sattaur had said that he would have named the exporter. He maintained that the timber that went out with the cocaine was cleared with the GFC but for some reason it evaded customs.
Further, Sattaur said he knew people have been evading taxes on imports but he did not know it was happening on exports too and he said that they definitely have to go back and review their standard operating procedures. The Commissioner General said he has seen some media reports where the blame has been levelled at customs and he asked those persons to inform him how customs is involved since they seem to have possession of such information.
On Wednesday, Sattaur had said that the ship was not scanned before it left Guyana since the scanning machine that GRA installed last year is still to be made operational.
He had added that the GRA received the mandate last April to expand its operations to checking exports leaving the country on ships, and according to him the agency has been working effectively to execute the mandate though it has been challenging.
He said the GRA cannot be blamed for lapses in the system because all the equipment and the expertise to get the job done are not in place. He pointed out that collaboration with other agencies is also very critical, while noting that as it relates to lumber exports the GFC has to work along with GRA to get the job done.
