Acting on a tip, security officials at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri (CJIA) on Tuesday discovered almost two kilos of cocaine in a bag close to the airport’s western perimeter fence.
The 1.978 kg find was made just days after several baggage handlers were dismissed from their jobs in connection with an earlier discovery of drugs at the airport.
Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday that the drugs were discovered by security personnel at the airport late on Tuesday and that several persons are being questioned in connection with the find.
The drugs are suspected to have been destined for an outgoing flight, Persaud said, while noting suspicion of the involvement of airport workers.
“There is suspicion that airport employees are conspiring with the drug traffickers,” he said.
According to a source at CJIA, on Tuesday night persons working at the Texaco fuel farm observed a white bag close to the fence on the airside, between the fuel farm and the New Timehri Handling Services base. The source said that the security at CJIA was called in and persons who were working in the vicinity at the time were detained by the police for questioning.
In March this year, two duffle bags containing 10 kilos of cocaine were found on the airside of the CJIA near the perimeter fence. An engineer attached to a local airline stumbled upon the two bags while working in the area. No one was charged in connection with that discovery.
Meanwhile, Stabroek News has been told that the airside passes of at least eight persons working at the airport have been rescinded and they were subsequently dismissed from their jobs at the airport. Reports are that five persons attached to the New Timehri Handling Services as well as another company connected to a local airline have been sacked from their jobs, in connection with a drug find at the airport on the evening of August 2.
In that case, 50 kilos of cocaine were discovered on a trolley which was being prepared for loading of an outgoing Caribbean Airlines flight. Several persons were being questioned by the police in connection with the find.
Another CJIA source told Stabroek News yesterday that the drug traffickers are liaising with vulnerable apron staffers at the CJIA, who are being paid large sums in order to arrange the loading of illicit substances onto outgoing flights. He said that from all appearances, the drug traffickers are targeting the North American-bound flights.
He also said that the airport should carry out more stringent background checks on persons who are employed by entities there, mainly the ground handling agents.
On the night of Thursday August 2, $25M worth of cocaine was intercepted by law enforcement agencies in an unclaimed bag that was on a trolley being prepared for loading on an outgoing Caribbean Airlines flight, which was expected to depart for the JFK airport in New York. The drugs were wrapped in plastic in more than 20 parcels.
