As the probe continues into the recent interception of 306 pounds of cocaine in Jamaica from Guyana, the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) was last night questioning the shippers and brokers connected to the two containers in question.
This disclosure was made by Head of CANU, James Singh, when contacted for an update last night.
According to Singh, a joint investigation is being conducted by CANU and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
He said that the authorities in Jamaica have also since shared some additional information. Singh could not divulge any other details.
Last night, CANU in a statement said that investigations done by it and the GRA confirmed that both contaminated containers left a city wharf in Georgetown, Guyana. CANU said that investigations revealed that security checks were done by GRA personnel prior to the departure of the shipment and it is suspected that the containers may have been contaminated after those security checks were done.
On Tuesday, law enforcement officials in Jamaica announced that they had unearthed over 100 packages containing more than 300 pounds of cocaine in containers which were shipped from Guyana at the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL).
The Jamaica Observer newspaper reported that the drug was found in two of six containers that arrived on the island from Guyana en route to Haiti and China.
The report said that while searching the containers, Nar-cotics Police accompanied by members of the Jamaica Customs Contraband Enforcement Team found a total of 122 packages (110 in one and 12 in another), each with a compressed white substance resembling cocaine.
The total weight of the drugs is approximately 139.4 kilograms and the estimated street value is US$6.59 million.
The interception was the third international drug bust in recent times linked to Guyana.
In November of last year law enforcement officials in Belgium announced that they were probing the discovery of 11.5 tonnes of cocaine in a container of scrap metal shipped from Guyana. The shipment which was described as “the largest overseas drug bust ever, worldwide,” was seized upon its arrival at the Port of Antwerp. It carried 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.
Authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Marlon Primo said to be the shipper but he has never been arrested. The GRA subsequently dismissed some scanning staff who reportedly were operating the scanner at the time the container left Guyana.
And on August 22 last year authorities in Hamburg, Ger-many announced that they were probing the discovery of 1.5 tonnes of cocaine in a container of rice from Guyana.
According to a Deutsche Welle report, the seizure was made after investigators at the Joint Customs and Police Inves-tigation Group (JIT) received a tip-off about drug smuggling.
The cocaine which had an estimated street value of around €300 million (US$353 million) was hidden between sacks of rice in the container, the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper said.
There was no arrest on the local front in relation to this bust. The continuing exit of cocaine in large quantities from the country raises serious concerns about port security and the effectiveness of Guyana’s interdiction efforts.
