A man is currently in police custody after a large cache of weapons, including assault rifles, pistols and ammunition, were found by customs officials carrying out a routine inspection at the GNIC wharf in the city yesterday.
Stabroek News was able to confirm with customs sources that the box had arrived from Miami, in the United States and it would appear that the man in custody had gone to the GNIC wharf to clear and uplift it.
Repeated efforts last night to make contact with Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Commissioner-General Khurshid Sattaur about the find were futile. However, police last evening confirmed the discovery and the arrest.
According to the police, the cache of arms and ammunition comprised two (2) AK 47 rifles, four 40 pistols, eleven 9mm pistols, fifteen extra magazines for the firearms, 489 various caliber rounds for the firearms and a body protection vest.
Although police said the find was made at around 11:30AM, a source told Stabroek News that it was around 12:30PM when a team of customs agents made the hair raising discovery as they were carrying out routine inspections of barrels, parcels and boxes.
Usual protocol is that the consignee has to be present when parcels, boxes and barrels are checked. All items arriving at wharves and other ports of entry are subjected to security checks by customs officials.
Stabroek News was told that the man that was held was taken to the Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters, at Eve Leary, where he was grilled by police officials.
This is the biggest interception of weapons at a port of entry recently and it raises serious concerns as to the intention of the shipper.
It is unclear if the police or the GRA have since contacted their counterparts in the United States for assistance in identifying the shipper or tracing the origin of the weapons.
The discovery also comes at a time when the police are battling a rise in gun crimes. Since the start of the year, several unlicensed weapons have been discovered.
APNU+AFC presidential candidate David Granger has often expressed concerns about the countryโs porous borders, saying that it allows easy access for illegal guns and other contraband. It is believed that the bulk of illegal guns and ammunition may be coming from Brazil, which is a big producer of weaponry.
The find may be the first time within the last few years that the United States has been pointed out as a direct source of weapons coming into Guyana.
