Investigations into two recent drug busts which occurred at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) are ongoing and sources point to security staff being fingered in the probe.
Around 11.25 am on September 16, officials of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) discovered some 28 kilos of cocaine in a suitcase which was already on board a CAL flight.
On that same day, approximately 2 kilos of the drug were found on an airport stair truck and two employees of the New Timehri Handling Service were held in connection with that incident.
This newspaper understands that the investigators are narrowing the probe into this drug haul to persons connected to the security services and who are said to be key persons facilitating the passage of illegal drugs through the layers of security at the airport. They are said to have collaborated with other persons employed by agencies and airlines at the CJIA to facilitate the passage of the drugs onto aircraft.
Police spokesman Ivelaw Whittaker told this newspaper that CANU is solely in charge of the investigations into the last two incidents and head James Singh would only say that investigations are ongoing.
This newspaper understands that persons are still being questioned by CANU, but airport sources said yesterday that like many other cases, the persons being grilled may soon be released given the “usual manner in which these so called investigations go”.
A source said persons working at CJIA are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to ensure that the drugs pass through the airport, and while security cameras are positioned at various checkpoints, the movement is done in such a manner that the actions of persons on the airside as well as within the airport’s terminal building seem “authentic”.
Reports are that while security is usually beefed up at the problematic departure lounge whenever there is a bust, those measures are done under the watchful eye of corrupt individuals who study and decipher the day to day movement of key persons there.
According to sources at the airport, the airlines feel the squeeze when there are drug busts which involve aircraft as this leads to delays. The aircraft travelling from these shores to JFK, must arrive there within a specified “slot time” and is expected to off load passengers and cargo and vice versa before returning to the Caribbean.
If the time period is exceeded then the airline is required to pay a fine to the airport authority. At the same time , if illegal drugs are found on board an aircraft at a US port such as JFK, the airline must pay a heavy fine; in the vicinity of US$30,000.
If drugs are found on an aircraft here, sources noted, there is no fine, but the airline would be required to facilitate an investigation.
In the September 16 drug bust, the drugs were found in a suitcase in which the tag of an item of passenger luggage had been switched. In the second operation, a small quantity of the drug was found in the airport stair truck by airport security who alerted the police.
More than 10 persons were arrested in connection with the suitcase bust, while at least two persons attached to the New Timehri Handling Service were arrested in connection with the bust made on the stair truck.
The drugs unearthed, combined, have a street value of more than $130 million.
According to sources at the airport, drug traffickers are targeting airlines which operate flights directly to New York.
