While questions linger over how US$12 million worth of cocaine stashed in a frozen shrimp shipment managed to get by customs and law enforcement here and make it to the United States, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan said the new government will be taking a serious approach to drug trafficking.
During an interview on Friday, Ramjattan put traffickers on notice that they will be caught. “We are going to get you. Come what may, we are going to get you,” he said, while noting that apart from interception, the government would be paying attention to how drugs are coming into the country and how they are prepared and later exported.
The cocaine in shrimp is the latest shipment originating here that has been intercepted by US authorities. Additionally, drug mules continue to be captured at the country’s two major airports with cocaine either on their person or in their luggage before boarding flights as well as at foreign airports after landing. Observers have often said that the authorities seem to be directing their energies in the wrong direction; settling for finding and prosecuting the mules but not their suppliers.
Ramjattan, speaking specifically about the interceptions made here, said that there is some informal networking in place with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The DEA office was established at the US Embassy, in Duke Street, Kingston last June. Previously, collaboration between local authorities and the DEA was done through the agency’s office in Trinidad.
Asked if he is happy with what he has been seeing thus far, Ramjattan responded, “Absolutely happy. In view of the fact that there have been some very major interceptions. He also pointed to comments by US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Bryan Hunt, indicating that “we are going to knock this thing over soon.”
The previous government was often criticised for its failings in seriously denting the drug trade, particularly in the light of the sophisticated methods traffickers employed to get cocaine out of Guyana.
The recent cocaine in shrimp bust, which has resulted in charges being laid against Guyanese businessman Heeralall Sukdeo in the United States, pointed directly to a well-organised network involving persons in Guyana and possibly the United States.
It is not known whether customs officials have been questioned as part of an investigation being conducted by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU). Head of CANU James Singh told Stabroek News that investigations are still ongoing. “We hope to be able to lay charges here,” he said.
The shipper, Imrain Khan, had turned himself over to police just over a week ago. After being questioned, he was handed over to CANU ranks and released the same day. Since then, he has been visiting CANU headquarters, where ranks continue to interrogate him.
According to a complaint by US Homeland Security special agent Ryan Varrone, agents secretly removed the cocaine-filled shipment and tailed the container after it cleared customs on June 15. The container was delivered to an unidentified warehouse in Brooklyn, where agents spotted Sukdeo “together with others … organising and supervising the unloading” of the shipment.
Court documents stated that the approximately 268 kilogrammes of cocaine were found concealed in wrapped packages hidden inside the parcels of frozen shrimp. It was a drug detection canine that alerted law enforcement agencies to the presence of narcotics.
Sukdeo, 59, the owner of Sukdeo Sons Fishing, a shipping company based in Queens, was arrested, but said he was innocent of any wrongdoing. “Sukdeo stated that he was present only in the vicinity of the truck containing the target shipment because he was curious about its contents,” Varrone stated in the complaint.
Sukdeo, who has a local branch of his company located at Lot 1 Pump Road, Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, has been charged with knowingly and intentionally conspiring to import a substance containing cocaine. He is being held in a US jail without bail.
No charges have been brought locally in the case.
Need for better monitoring
It is expected that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) would see this as a major embarrassment given the fact that anything being exported ought to be subjected to thorough security checks. Cocaine has been exported in frozen seafood before.
However, the GRA is yet to provide specific answers on how the shipment evaded detection.
Contacted on Friday, Head of the GRA Khurshid Sattaur said he was preparing a statement on the interception. However, the subsequent statement simply said that the agency was conducting investigations.
It noted that the interception highlighted, “the level of ingenuity by drug smugglers to utilise concealment methods that at times would require sophisticated detection techniques” as well as the pervasiveness of the narcotics trade.
It further said the case highlights the need for law enforcement to fortify its efforts to monitor incoming and outbound cargo at the wharves, transit sheds and other ports of entry.
The GRA also said that in keeping with maritime and other requirements, consignments destined for the United Kingdom, Canada and United States are scanned utilising the stationary and mobile scanners that are available. It is unclear why these scanners failed to detect the cocaine, the agency said.
Sattaur, in an interview with Stabroek News last Friday, said that there needs to be more scanners, with at least one at every port. He explained that containers are classified into three categories: high risk, medium risk and low risk. These categories identifies the level of possible irregularities, he said, before adding that it would be near impossible for all containers to be checked using a scanner.
He explained that the GRA at the moment has two container scanners in operation. One is an American scanner, which has “been around for a while” and which from “time to time gives problems,” he noted. The other, he said, was more recently acquired from China. He said this x-ray scanner has managed to pick up the bulk of the irregularities found with containers.
When asked about the acquisition of more scanners, Ramjattan told Stabroek News that government is moving to get the much needed additions. Based on what he said, the intention is to place some at the airports but he could not say how many would be acquired. “There was some plan under the last administration to get these scanners,” he noted.
Stabroek News asked Sattaur about the procedure in place for scanning containers and whether all of the containers that are being exported are scanned. While noting that the GRA is guided by the law, he said containers destined for certain ports in the United States have to be scanned.
Asked if the scanning is selective or applies to all containers, he said that scanning is done to detect irregularities based on profiling, such as the shipper’s previous record and the type of product being exported. He said it is often because of this profiling method that interceptions are made.
Sattaur later noted that it is based upon the submission of the entry that the GRA determines firstly, whether a container will be subjected to a check or scan; and, secondly, if it is decided that one will be done, when it will happen.
He said if a check is to happen, sometimes the shipper would be informed before the packing is done so as to avoid having to have all the goods unpacked to facilitate the process. “We don’t tell you if we are going to scan the container before you pack,” he said, adding “there are a lot of things we do.”
“The system is not fool proof. I know that,” he said, while noting that the agency would receive tip offs from informants.
He said the port control unit, which comprises ranks from GRA, CANU and the police force, has been working “to ensure that a proper system of prevention is there.” The unit has been getting support from the authorities in the US, he pointed out, while adding that the GRA is happy with the work of the unit as now the country is better equipped to deal with the scourge of drug trafficking.
“We are not all alone in this. We are working,” he emphasised.
Asked about suspicions that cocaine shipments have been deliberately allowed to get through ports without interception, he said he is unaware of this happening. “I am not happy with these statements without it being supported by facts,” he said. According to Sattaur, he is not a part of such an arrangement and he urged anyone who may have information about these occurrences to come forward.
“Officers are prone to be corrupt,” he acknowledged, while noting that persons can become susceptible to the money being offered by drug traffickers.
“I am denying it [that drugs are deliberately allowed to pass],” he, however, said, before adding that he becomes unhappy when these statements are made because they soil the image of the GRA and make it appear that those working there are not taking their duties and responsibilities seriously.
“I would love to have that evidence; that it [the cocaine] has been allowed to pass,” he said before adding, “We have a system in place.”
