Investigators in Suriname and Guyana believe they have crushed a major trafficking ring that operated between the two countries, following the recent seizure of a large quantity of cocaine in Suriname and several arrests.
Stabroek News has been reliably informed that collaboration between investigators from the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) and their counterparts in Suriname led to the seizure of some 21.280 kilogrammes of cocaine in Nickerie last Sunday. “It is a major drug trafficking ring that has been crushed, they operated between Suriname and Guyana and they have been shut down,” a CANU source told this newspaper yesterday. The source said while investigators do not believe they have plugged all the holes in the drug trafficking network between the two countries, a “major dent has been put in their operation by shutting down this ring.”
Last Sunday’s bust, sources told Stabroek News, was linked to one made in Skeldon by CANU ranks on the night of April 15, when two men were arrested with over 50 pounds of cocaine in a car. One of these men has since pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $35 million. The second one pleaded not guilty and is in jail awaiting trial.
According to the Suriname Star Nieuws, the police in that country on Sunday seized 20 packs of cocaine with a gross weight of 21.280 kilos. The police also seized four vehicles. “The action was carried out by the drug units of the Judicial Service of the Police Corps Suriname (KPS) and supported by the Arrest Team. The drugs came again from Guyana and was partly intended for the local market and partly for the European market,” the news agency said.
According to the report, cocaine is sold in Suriname and Europe for huge prices, which, according to the country’s Commissioner Hussainali-Mathoera Krishna, makes it very attractive to criminals.
“Drug bosses use couriers in difficult socio-economic circumstances. These couriers want more than a quick and easy way to earn money without having to ascertain the serious consequences for them and their families,” the commissioner said.
While the report said that only one Guyanese was arrested in Sunday’s bust sources have told Stabroek News that around four Guyanese have been arrested along with persons from Suriname and Venezuela. “One of the men… escaped us in Berbice and we were on his trail and we did not give up and this led to Sunday’s bust…” a CANU source told this newspaper.
In that bust in Berbice, some 25 kilogrammes of cocaine were unearthed in a car outside a Skeldon hotel and two men were arrested. Sources had revealed that the investigators had the men under surveillance and moved in on them some time on the night of April 15 and found the drugs.
Sources indicated that the man, who was fingered in a drug bust by the police last year on the West Demerara, slipped over to Suriname before the bust was made in Berbice and he hid there. But sources said investigators were aware that more drugs were headed to that country and it was their firm belief that the same group would be involved and the Surinamese authorities were alerted. “They used a different route to ship the cocaine because they had to get it out but we did not give up we kept them under surveillance,” a source said.
According to sources, the West Demerara resident, who has been nabbed in Suriname and remains in jail along with others, is a well-known player in drug trafficking circles. “They did not expect us to get on to them and so that is why he remained in Suriname… But now they are in a state of confusion; they want to know how we got on to them but we have been keeping them under surveillance,” a source said.
The man, who is from Uitvlugt, was fingered in last November’s bust of some 21 kilogrammes of cocaine that was unearthed by police in the trunk of a car during a road block at Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara.
Following the bust the police had issued an arrest warrant for Harry Kumar Sukhraj from Hague Jib, West Coast Demerara, but sources have now said that it was not Sukhraj who was behind the cocaine, believed to have been headed to Suriname, but the Uitvlugt resident.
The bust was made by police on November 29, 2010 and according to reports, a car transporting three men was being followed by policemen in an unmarked car. Apparently, other police officers were approaching from the opposite direction and two men, who were known to the police, exited the car and escaped by scaling fences. The driver, who was left behind, was detained after a search of the trunk revealed the presence of cocaine but he was subsequently released.
The man, who was accused then of having links to the drugs, had turned himself into police in the company of a lawyer for questioning into allegations that he was linked multi-million-dollar cocaine bust. According to a senior police officer, the man had said at the time of the discovery that he was working in Suriname. The man’s son, who was also detained, was released from police custody.
The recent busts in Suriname and in Guyana are all linked to the CANU’s change in 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,” a CANU source had told this newspaper recently.
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.
