Officers from the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) in a major drug bust on Friday evening seized over 50 pounds of cocaine in Corriverton, Berbice and arrested two persons.
While details have been sketchy, Stabroek News has been reliably informed that some 25 kilogrammes of cocaine were unearthed in a car outside a Skeldon hotel and two men were arrested.
Sources revealed that the investigators had the men under surveillance and moved in on them some time on Friday night and found the drugs.
A senior CANU official declined to give more details as he said he did not want to alert other persons in the drug trafficking ring to the operation.
It is believed that the drugs were destined for Suriname.
Recently a CANU source had told this newspaper that the unit had changed its modus operandi to one that is more intelligence-driven.
“We don’t want to be on the road doing road blocks or searching homes and finding two and three kilogrammes of cocaine. We are focusing on intelligence and intercepting the large quantities of cocaine which will hurt the drug ring,” the source had said.
The source had also revealed that the unit had better relations with its counterparts in the region in an effort to stem the flow of the drugs. The recent bust in Barbados where a large quantity of cocaine was found on a boat that left Guyana was mentioned. That boat, which is owned by a well-known businessman connected to a popular nightclub and hotel, was under surveillance by CANU and customs officers. Even though it was searched in Guyana and nothing was found, CANU ranks alerted Barbados officials of their suspicions and this resulted in the boat being searched and the drugs found. Several persons, including Guyanese and Barbadians have been charged and are awaiting trial.
The CANU source said major ties have also been made with officials in Suriname and recent busts in that country have been as a result of information sharing.
Questioned on the age-old issue of Guyana not arresting any major drug trafficker, the source said while this may be so, stemming the flow of the drugs will eventually hurt the man at the top. It was pointed out that it is not only difficult to get those caught with drugs to reveal who are the brains behind the ring but also the person may be arrested and just serve three years in prison. On the other hand, the source said, intelligence will eventually dry up the funds for the mastermind and he may be eventually be nabbed in another country and serve many years in prison.
Stabroek News was told that more arrests are likely in last evening’s bust and ranks will continue monitor the gateway to Suriname through which, it is believed, a lot of the drugs leave Guyana.
Meanwhile, government recently defended the decision to remove CANU ranks from wharves, saying that handing over such responsibilities to personnel from the Customs and Trade Adminis-tration (CTA) was a “calculated risk” that was based on restructuring. Criticisms of the move, which happened last year, flowed following the interception by Jamaican authorities of 122.65 kilos of cocaine on board a ship that left the John Fernandes Wharf with customs officers none the wiser.
PNCR Presidential candidate and former National Security Adviser David Granger had criticised the move and indicated that the CTA officers had no training in the detection of narcotics. However, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon had pointed out that while CANU ranks are no longer stationed on the wharves, they are not excluded from carrying out investigations there. He said that CANU’s work is intelligence-driven and its officers have the authority to respond to intelligence-led operations anywhere in the country. “Moving them from there does not say that if information is provided about a narco trafficking event that is likely to take place…they would not be there… they can still respond to intelligence led-information.”
