Law enforcement officials today made another big cocaine bust in Berbice before the drugs could leave the country for Suriname and several persons are being questioned by police.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said 12 kilogrammes of cocaine were intercepted in a car at Moleson Creek, Corentyne by police.
Persaud told this newspaper that the details are sketchy and while he did not have an exact number he knew that persons were in police custody. He said he was told that the car was heading to Suriname some time during the morning hours when it was intercepted by police ranks.
This is the latest cocaine bust to have occurred in Berbice in recent times.
In April this year, Sulaimon Adeboye Adelodun, a Nigerian was reportedly caught with 21.748 kilogrammes of cocaine in his possession at Number 78 Village, Corentyne as he was about to leave Guyana via the backtrack crossing He was later charged and is on remand.
On November 14 last year around 10.30 am police ranks stopped motor car PMM 9535 and subsequently unearthed a total of 10 kgs of cocaine.
The driver of the vehicle, who was the only occupant, managed to drive away but police pursued the vehicle which crashed at Line Path, Skeldon. The driver escaped. The car was taken to the Springlands Police Station, where a search revealed the prohibited substance.
Two men and two women were arrested by the police in the ensuing investigations and a wanted bulletin was later issued for a fourth man – businessman Dexter Pires.
On November 3 at Line Path, Skeldon, Corentyne, Salim Bacchus, Canada-based Guyanese Narayan Jarbandhan, 40; Gary Belgrave, 52, and Leo Hernandez, 44, were charged with cocaine trafficking and they have since been freed.
It was alleged that they had in their possession, 41.856 kilogrammes (approximately 82 pounds) of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. The interception was made by officers of Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) at Line Path Corentyne.
Jarbandhan, Belgrave and Hernandez were freed in December in Berbice, after their lawyer, Ramesh Rajkumar had observed that their names were not on the charge. It was reported that the men’s names were on the case jacket but had mysteriously disappeared. The lawyer had argued successfully that his clients were never charged but were in fact locked-up wrongfully.
Then on April 30, Bacchus was freed after his lawyers Glen Hanoman and Rajkumar made a no-case submission.
