Some 192.4 kilos of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $800M, was yesterday unearthed in a container onboard a foreign bauxite ship destined for Europe after local authorities were tipped off by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC).
The drugs were in 185 packages or bricks, which were concealed under the pallets of a container on board the MV Delta Dies, a vessel registered in Cyprus, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) announced.
All 11 members of the crew were initially arrested, Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) head James Singh said, but seven were later released. The four remaining in custody were said to be assisting in the investigation.
Stabroek News was told the vessel arrived in Guyana over the weekend and proceeded to Linden, where it was loaded with bauxite. It was returning from the mining town when it was intercepted. It was directed to the John Fernandes Wharf, where investigators conducted a search and the cocaine was unearthed.
The ship had travelled from Suriname to Guyana and was scheduled to leave Guyana for Spain then to Holland and finally to Belgium.
The GRA, in a statement, said that its investigators were provided with intelligence from the UNODC, which indicated that cocaine was concealed in one of the containers on board the ship. It said that CANU was called in and it along with GRA’s Law Enforcement and Inves-tigation Division (LEID) and the Drug Examination Unit (DEU) conducted an examination of the container.
Singh told Stabroek News that port control officials in Suriname also assisted in the bust.
This bust is one of the largest in recent times by local authorities, who have faced severe criticisms for not effectively fighting the ongoing drug trade in Guyana. Observers have repeatedly pointed out that only small time players are arrested, while the major beneficiaries of the illegal trade go untouched.
Meanwhile, according to the GRA, it has long recognised the importance of forging regional and international linkages in the ongoing efforts at addressing challenges of a global magnitude, such as drugs trafficking and the smuggling of goods, and partnerships have been successful on several fronts.
It reminded that in 2012 Guyana and Suriname joined the Container Control Programmes to improve port security and stop the use of containers for transnational criminal activities, including narcotics trafficking. A Memorandum of Under-standing with the UNODC, it added, paved the way for the establishment of joint port control units in Guyana and Suri-name at John Fernandes and Nieuwe Haven, respectively. “It allowed both countries to strengthen the control of inbound and outgoing containers, improve real time exchange and analysis of information among other advantages,” it further said.
The last bust of a similar scale was made in February, 2013, when 792 pounds of cocaine were discovered by CANU and GRA secreted in timber at a Soesdyke lumberyard for export to Holland. Two employees of Guyana Tim-ber Products Inc, Raymon Ghani and Dominic Walsh, were later charged in connection with the bust, which was said to be the largest ever drug bust in the country’s history.
