Ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) have detained three labourers for questioning in relation to the huge discovery of 11.5 tonnes of cocaine in a container of scrap metal in Belgium.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Head of CANU James Singh said that the investigation is ongoing.
He said the three labourers who are being questioned were tasked with loading the containers. “We are following up some leads on the persons that loaded the containers,” Singh said.
He added that the trio is likely to be released once the interviewing process is completed.
Earlier this month, law enforcement officials in Belgium announced that they were probing the discovery of 11.5 tonnes of cocaine in the container of scrap metal shipped from Guyana.
The shipment, which has been described as “the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide,” was seized upon its arrival at the Port of Antwerp. It carries an estimated street value of 900 million Euros.
The Brussels Times had reported counter-narcotics prosecutors as saying that they tracked the transatlantic journey of the cocaine from Guyana following the dismantlement of a drug trafficking gang led by a former Belgian counter-narcotics chief, which revealed the existence of tight-knit links between criminal gangs and counter-narcotics and law enforcement officials.
Stabroek News was informed that the shipment departed Guyana on September 25th and was searched by Belgian authorities on October 27th.
To date, a number of persons including employees of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), have been questioned in relation to the discovery and have since been released
Investigators believe that the suspected shipper of the container, Marlon Primo has crucial information that can aid in the probe. But to date, Primo is yet to be located despite several searches.
Both CANU and the police have since issued wanted bulletins for Primo.
Singh said yesterday that the search continues for Primo.
He further related that CANU is also seeking assistance from their counterparts to locate him in the event that he might have fled the jurisdiction.
Investigators were also hoping that the scanned images of the container would have also aided their probe. However, sources had previously told this newspaper that the scanned images were either deleted or altered.
Efforts made to retrieve the scanned images have so far proven futile.
It is suspected that the images were either deleted or altered by law enforcement officials who were on duty at the port on the day when the shipment departed Guyana.
Singh had previously told this newspaper that the fact that attempts were made to delete the images, which normally captures the entire processing operation at the ports, means that there is “deliberate” collusion.
He had said this has to be addressed.
Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn had told also reporters that the authorities are “extremely” alarmed that the shipment passed through the surveillance system without being discovered.
He had said that the operation had to have been in the planning for months.
