A large amount of cocaine was discovered in fish food this morning in a container destined for China at the Guyana National Shipping Company (GNSC), sources have confirmed.
This newspaper was reliably informed that the cocaine was detected by a Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) customs official as the container was being scanned to be placed on the ship.
Contacted, Commissioner General of the GRA Khurshid Sattaur while confirming that there was bust said the authority would be sending out a release later today.
It is not clear how the cocaine was packaged but it comes one day after the police discovered at the Timehri airport 46 pounds of cocaine in drinking straws which were made to look like macaroni and then hidden in boxes of mangoes destined for Canada.
It also comes on the heels of a major cocaine find in soap powder at a port last week.
The GRA this afternoon issued the following press release on the find:
Friday December 7, 2012: The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) today unearthed a quantity of narcotic drugs said to be cocaine at the Guyana National Shipping Corporation (GNSC) wharf in a container said to contain fish food destined to China.
The drugs were discovered by officers of the GRA Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) and Good Examination Unit (GEU) after the container, packed with bags of fish food, was flagged for secondary examination by the Container Scanner Unit. The examination was conducted in the presence of Mr. Gilbert Bristol of 154 Garnett Street, Newtown, Kitty, Georgetown to
whom the consignment belonged.
The cocaine in the form of pellets (disguised as fish food) was discovered so far in eight (8) of fifteen hundred (1500) bags of fish food. The consignee was Angel International Logistics Ltd in China.
The Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) was alerted and subsequently came to the scene and took possession of the drugs. The shipper and his assistant were detained and are assisting with the investigation as the DEU continues with the examination of the cargo in the presence of CANU.
Recently, several officers of CANU teamed up with GRA officials to train several officers of the DEU in the detection of narcotics and the officers were given testing kits which was used to test the suspected substance.
The GRA once again commends the officers of the DEU for their diligence.
Khurshid Sattaur Commissioner-General
